Digital Commons Network^™

Prosecutorial Declination Statements, Jessica A. Roth

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This Article examines how prosecutors convey to various audiences their decisions not to charge in discrete cases. Although prosecutors regularly issue public statements about their declinations—and anecdotal evidence suggests that declination statements are on the rise—there is an absence of literature discussing the interests that such statements serve, the risks that they pose, and how such statements are consistent with the prosecutorial function. Prosecutors also operate in this space without clear ground rules set by law, policies, or professional standards. This Article attempts to fill that void. First, it theorizes the interests potentially advanced by such statements—characterized as signaling, accountability, …

The Perceptions Of Juvenile Judges Regarding Adolescent Development In Evaluating Juvenile Competency, Colleen M. Berryessa, Jillian Reeves

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This analysis provides the first known in-depth qualitative inquiry into if and how juvenile court judges take the psycho-social immaturity and development of adolescents into consideration when making attributions of adjudicative competency of offenders in juvenile court. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-seven U.S. juvenile court judges, followed by grounded theory analysis. Competency evaluations from psychologists and the juvenile’s age, history, awareness, and mental capacity influence judicial determinations of competency. Although data show that understandings of adolescent development do play a large role in shaping judges’ understandings of juvenile behavior—particularly related to emotional control, irrational behavior, lack of maturity, and …

“You May Be Down And Out, But You Ain’T Beaten”: Collective Bargaining For Incarcerated Workers, Keith Armstrong

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The Supreme Court’s sweeping 1977 decision in Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union determined that a state’s reasonable interest in maintaining security in a correctional facility outweighed prisoners’ freedom of association in seeking to unionize. This decision had a chilling effect on a burgeoning prisoners’ union movement which had risen to prominence over the course of the 1970s. Since Jones, prison labor has increased and changed form: the Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Act of 1979 authorized private firms to sell prisoner-made goods on the open market. At the same time, prisoners continue to work in more traditional jobs …

Progressive Prosecution In A Pandemic, Chad Flanders, Stephen Galoob

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Reach Of Progressive Prosecution, Jeffrey Bellin

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

When Prosecutors Politick: Progressive Law Enforcers Then And Now, Bruce A. Green, Rebecca Roiphe

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

A new and recognizable group of reform-minded prosecutors has assumed the mantle of progressive prosecution. The term is hard to define in part because its adherents embrace a diverse set of policies and priorities. In comparing the contemporary movement with Progressive Era prosecutors, this Article has two related goals. First, it seeks to better define progressive prosecution. Second, it uses a historical comparison to draw some lessons for the current movement. Both groups of prosecutors were elected on a wave of popular support. Unlike today’s mainstream prosecutors who tend to campaign and labor in relative obscurity, these two sets of …

Race, Reform, & Progressive Prosecution, Daniel Fryer

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The progressive prosecution movement is one of the most recent efforts to reform the United States criminal justice system. In this Article, I analyze two assumptions that appear to be guiding this movement. The first is that prosecutors have unilateral power to change the system. The second is that those who bear the biggest burden of our current system—black Americans—would be the primary beneficiaries of the decarceration proposals advanced by progressive prosecutors. I argue that each of these assumptions is misguided. A successful criminal justice reform movement must recognize the contingent power of prosecutors and actively seek to advance racial …

Rural Spaces, Communities Of Color, And The Progressive Prosecutor, Maybell Romero

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The concept of the progressive prosecutor has captured the attention of many newspapers, media outlets, district attorney candidates, legal scholars, and the public at large. Many with sincere interests in reforming the criminal legal system have excitedly traced the success of candidates styling themselves as progressive prosecutors.

Although located throughout the country, these progressive prosecutors share a geographic commonality—they generally hail from large cities or urban metroplexes. Examples include Wesley Bell in St. Louis, Rachael Rollins in Boston, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, and Kim Foxx in Chicago. Meanwhile, in the rural reaches of the country, disproportionate contact between police and …

Prosecutors And Their State And Local Polities, Ronald F. Wright

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Prosecutors routinely decline to file charges in individual cases; sometimes they also announce general policies about declinations that apply prospectively to entire categories of cases. The legitimacy of these categorical declination policies is in dispute. Current accounts of declinations rely on arguments about the traditional activities of prosecutors and the distinction between executive and legislative functions in constitutional separation of powers doctrine. This Article argues that chief prosecutors in state court systems hold competing loyalties to statewide voters and local voters. These duties to state and local polities should also influence the declination policies that a prosecutor adopts.

Duties to …

Lessons From Disaster: Assessing The Covid19 Response In Youth Jails & Prisons, Madalyn K. Wasilczuk

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ai Report: Humanity Is Doomed. Send Lawyers, Guns, And Money!, Ashley M. London

Law Faculty Publications

AI systems are powerful technologies being built and implemented by private corporations motivated by profit, not altruism. Change makers, such as attorneys and law students, must therefore be educated on the benefits, detriments, and pitfalls of the rapid spread, and often secret implementation of this technology. The implementation is secret because private corporations place proprietary AI systems inside of black boxes to conceal what is inside. If they did not, the popular myth that AI systems are unbiased machines crunching inherently objective data would be revealed as a falsehood. Algorithms created to run AI systems reflect the inherent human categorization …

Anonymous Plaintiffs And Sexual Misconduct, Jayne S. Ressler

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fines, Fees, And Filing Bankruptcy, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

When faced with mounting civil or criminal court fines, fees, and interest-"court debt," as broadly defined-people may consider turning to the bankruptcy system to deal with that debt. Every year, about a million people file bankruptcy, seeking to discharge most of their debts. Although most court debt is categorically nondischargeable, bankruptcy's discharge may provide people struggling with court debt a way to wipe the slate somewhat clean so they have a better chance of paying such debt. Also, people who file bankruptcy under chapter 13--one of the two most common chapters filed by consumers are entitled to a so-called "superdischarge" …

Crm 1829 : Introduction To Criminal Justice, Sociology, Anthropology, And Criminology

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Police Funding, Stephen Rushin, Roger Michalski

Faculty Publications & Other Works

A number of civil rights activists have called for the defunding or abolition of American police departments. These activists claim that the United States overinvests in police, leaving fewer scarce resources to support other government services. Activists also claim that overinvestment in policing contributes to higher rates of police misconduct and unnecessary criminalization, particularly in communities of color.

This Article considers these calls for the defunding of police. It ultimately cautions against widespread defunding of police and offers an alternative proposal. Part I brings together multiple national databases on local government expenditures to evaluate empirically how states and municipalities fund …

Annual Report 2020, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Ryan E. Spohn

Reports

T  he Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR) was established in 2014 with a mission to develop and sustain criminal justice research capacity internal to the State of Nebraska. Our goal is to assist the Legislature, justice agencies, practitioners, foundations, and stakeholders with research and evaluation to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices, and improve public safety. This annual report summarizes the activities and financial status of NCJR in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. In this past year, NCJR once again crafted our Adult Justice in Nebraska report to provide a foundation of data trends in areas such as …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: January 2020, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during update calls and site visits.

The current data derives from an active database, from which data is being entered and updated daily. Data values, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on the duration of lag between service delivery and data entry. …

The Emergence Of Law And Macroeconomics: From Stability To Growth To Human Development, Steven A. Ramirez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Immigration Policy As A Defense Of White Nationhood, Juan F. Perea

Faculty Publications & Other Works

President Trump's vilification and expulsion of undocumented Latino migrants is only the latest episode of the mass expulsion of Latinos. This essay places Trump's border enforcement policies into historical context as a defense of white national identity. Despite many asserted justifications for this mistreatment of migrants and refugees, the only justification that survives scrutiny is the need to reassure anxious whites that their racial status is being defended.

The Emergence Of Law And Macroeconomics: From Stability To Growth To Human Development, Steven A. Ramirez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Optimizing The Effectiveness Of Naloxone Distribution In The State Of New Hampshire: A Program Evaluation, Lisa M. Armes

DNP Scholarly Projects

In order to develop an understanding of the state-funded community naloxone distribution program in New Hampshire, a program evaluation was conducted. The project collected data on distributed naloxone and opioid overdose deaths between the years of 2014-2018 but focused primarily on comparing data from 2017 and 2018. There were 409 opioid deaths in 2017 and 399 opioid overdose deaths in 2018 in New Hampshire. Between 2017 and 2018, naloxone supply was increased by 38%-493%, varying widely across New Hampshire counties. Statistically significant increases in naloxone distributed to target users occurred only in Hillsborough and Strafford counties. Significant changes in death …

Autonomous Vehicles: Regulatory Challenges And The Response From Germany And Uk, Antonios E. Kouroutakis

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Attorneys General As Agents Of Police Reform, Stephen Rushin, Jason Mazzone

Faculty Publications & Other Works

State attorneys general can and should play an important role in remedying police violations of constitutional rights. In 1994, Congress enacted 42 U.S.C. § 14141 to authorize the U.S. Attorney General to seek equitable relief against state and local police departments engaged in patterns or practices of misconduct. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has used this statute to reform some of the nation’s most troubled police departments. However, the DOJ has lacked the resources to pursue more than a few cases each year and the Trump Administration has recently announced it would no longer enforce § 14141.

In response, a …

Limiting A Driver’S Limited Right To Counsel In Dwi Proceedings: State V. Rosenbush, 931 N.W.2d 91 (Minn. 2019), Lisa Perunovich

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Progressive Prosecution: It’S Here, But Now What?, Hao Quang Nguyen

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Application Of Mercy: Equal Treatment For All Youth Who Commit Sex Offenses, Jennica Janssen, David Dematteo

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law: The Dangers Of Incomplete Statutory Interpretation And The Unfortunate Equal Protection Implications That Follow– Heilman V. Courtney, 926 N.W.2d 387 (Minn. 2019), Claire Gutknecht

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Retribution, Not A Solution": Drug-Induced Homicide In North Carolina, J. Matthew Gorga

Campbell Law Review

Two men - we'll call them John and Will - share an apartment. Unfortunately, both men are addicted to heroin. The men are struggling to get by. Neither one of them would consider themselves "drug dealers," but both have made minor sales here and there to help support their drug habit, and both have had their share of run-ins with the law. One evening, John tells Will he is going to pick up some heroin, and John asks Will if he wants any. Will decides to chip in; he gives some money to John. John takes the money, pools it …

Fact Book, Academic Year 2019, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Fact Book

The Fact Book presents important campus information in data tables and charts. Included are details regarding students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Generally, data are broken out by college, rank, level, gender, age and ethnicity for both spring and fall semesters, past to present. There are a few academic year tables that include information on tuition & fees, student credit hours by program, and degrees conferred. We wish to thank the many individuals and departments at the University for their contributions to the Fact Book.

Planning Committee 2020 Annual Report, Planning Committee, College Of Public Affairs And Community Service, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Past Publications

The planning committee of the Nebraska Legislature is charged with establishing and maintaining a future focus on the priorities of the State. Its responsibility is to assure continuity of policy to achieve long term goals. The committee will do so by collecting and analyzing data, identifying priorities, setting long term goals, and establishing benchmarks.