Digital Commons Network^™

Droughts Of Compassion: The Enduring Problem With Compassionate Release And How The Sentencing Commission Can Address It, Nathaniel Berry

University of Chicago Law Review

Compassionate release, guided by 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), allows a district court to reduce a previously imposed criminal sentence if “extraordinary and compelling reasons” warrant a reduction. Congress delegated the task of describing what constitutes an extraordinary and compelling reason to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Following the passage of the First Step Act of 2018, most circuit courts held the Commission’s policy statement describing extraordinary and compelling reasons inapplicable, and that until the Commission updated its policy statement, courts enjoyed the discretion to determine what circumstances justify compassionate release.

e. Many have celebrated this newfound discretion and its potential to …

A Crazy Quilt: Infanticide In The United States, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter builds on previous research to present a sampling of cases in the US, primarily in the twenty-first century, in order to show the harshness and disparity in criminal charges, defences and sentences. The broad term ‘infanticide’ is used for child-murder cases, and the more specific term ‘neonaticide’ is used for the killing of a child in the first 24 hours after birth. This chapter also describes the more recent use of genetic genealogy to solve cold cases of neonaticide. It concludes by considering how the absence of an infanticide offence and expanded defences results in an incoherent, unjust …

The Ever-Shifting Ground Of Pretrial Detention Reform, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

In the past six decades, pretrial detention systems have undergone waves of reform. Despite these efforts, pretrial jail populations across the country continue to swell. The causes of such growth in jail populations are difficult to pinpoint, but some are more readily apparent: Fear over rising crime rates, judicial reluctance to release accused persons, and monetary burdens associated with release have all contributed to increased detention pretrial across criminal legal systems in the United States. This article examines various pretrial detention reform efforts and highlights the need for greater research in the area.

Policing Protest: Speech, Space, Crime, And The Jury, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

Speech is more than just an individual right—it can serve as a catalyst for democratically driven revolution and reform, particularly for minority or marginalized positions. In the past decade, the nation has experienced a rise in mass protests. However, dissent and disobedience in the form of such protests is not without consequences. While the First Amendment promises broad rights of speech and assembly, these rights are not absolute. Criminal law regularly curtails such rights—either by directly regulating speech as speech or by imposing incidental burdens on speech as it seeks to promote other state interests. This Feature examines how criminal …

Hydra: Lessons From The World's Largest Darknet Market, Priyanka Goonetilleke, Alex Knorre, Artem Kuriksha

Faculty Scholarship

Research Summary

We present a comprehensive description of Hydra, the largest darknet marketplace in the world until its shutdown in April 2022. We document the main features of Hydra such as dead-drop delivery, feedback and reputation system, escrow, and dispute resolution. Using data scraped from the platform, we quantitatively examine the scale and the structure of the marketplace. We find that it has been highly competitive, geographically covering at least 69% of the Russian population and trading a wide variety of drugs, while also allowing the wholesale trade of drugs and precursors. The dead-drop delivery system used on Hydra was …

The Lawyer’S Professional Duty To Encourage Respect For—And To Improve—The Administration Of Justice: Lessons From Failures By Attorneys General, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The lawyer’s duty to encourage respect for the administration of justice remains largely amorphous and abstract. In this article, I draw lessons about this duty from historical instances in which Attorneys General inappropriately criticized judges. Not only are Attorneys General some of the highest-profile lawyers in the country, but they also face unique tensions and pressures that bring their duties as lawyers into stark relief. I focus on the two instances where law societies sought to discipline Attorneys General for such criticism of judges, as well as a more recent instance in which no discipline proceedings were pursued. I also …

Come Hell Or High Fever: Readying The World’S Megacities For Disaster. By Russell, W. Glenn. Canberra, Australia: Australian University Press, 2023., Magdalena, A. Denham, Ph.D.

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Mental Health Literacy And Perceived Social Support On Mental Health Stigma Across Racial And Ethnic Groups In The United States: A Survey-Based Analysis, Isabel R. Jordan, Dan Cooper, Jayxa Alonzo

Senior Theses

The goals of this study were to determine a) whether minoritized groups in the United States had lower levels of mental health literacy (MHL) and higher levels of stigma, b) whether people with higher rates of MHL and social support had lower rates of stigma and c) whether MHL and perceived social support were stronger predictors of stigma levels depending on racial group membership. I hypothesized that people with both high levels of MHL and high levels of social support would have lower levels of mental health stigma, minoritized groups would have lower levels of MHL and social support and …

2023 Final Report For Databases In The 2022 Traffic Records Improvement Plan: Facilitating The Development Of Projects To Attain The Goals In The Implementation Plan For The 2022-26 Traffic Records Strategic Plan, Lenahan O'Connell, Samantha Wright, Reginald Souleyrette

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

During fiscal year 2023, with financial support (Grant #M3Da-2022-04) from the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC)-continued its work with traffic database officials to facilitate successful attainment of the remaining goals from the 2017-21 Traffic Records Strategic Plan (TRSP), which goals are in the 2022-26 TRSP Transportation Records Improvement Plan (TRIP). For most databases, some new goals were developed; this required further refinement of some projects or strategies to improve database performance. Projects to complete the goals in the TRIP were continued and some completed for the following databases: CRASH, Citation/Adjudication, Injury Surveillance (KIPRC and EMS), …

Fall 2023 Graduation Survey Responses, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Graduation

Fall 2023 Graduation survey responses master file without identifiers.

“What’S Brewin’ With Bruen?” Why, And How, We Must Permit Certain Felons To Possess Firearms, Samuel Roos

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In the summer of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, outlining a new test for the constitutionality of statutes regulating firearm possession. The result has been chaos. In less than a year, U.S.C. § 922(n) and § 922(g)(8), which criminalize possession by specific people involved in the criminal justice system, have been held unconstitutional. Challenges to other federal firearm regulations are flooding the courts.

Notably, § 922(g)(1), which criminalizes possession of a firearm by any person with a felony in their criminal history, has been vigorously challenged. Few courts have yet …

Docker Technology For Small Scenario-Based Excercises In Cybersecurity, Zeinab Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to better prepare students for cybersecurity roles by providing practical tools that bridge the gap between theory and real-world applications. We investigate the role of small scenario-based exercises for students’ understanding of cybersecurity concepts. In particular, we assess the use of Docker technology to deliver training that includes a simple small scenario on html code injection. The effectiveness of scenario-based learning has long been defined and by using SBL, we are going to create hands-on activity that involves the fundamental topics in cybersecurity using Docker technology, allowing students to see the exploitation of the vulnerabilities and defense …

Children Are Constitutionally Different, But Life Without Parole And De Facto Life Sentences Are Not: Extending Graham And Miller To De Facto Life Sentences, Ellen Brink

Fordham Law Review

Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s current juvenile sentencing jurisprudence, a juvenile may legally receive a prison sentence of hundreds of years without parole in instances in which a sentence of life without parole would be unconstitutional. This illogical state of affairs is the result of the Court’s silence on whether its holdings in Graham v. Florida and Miller v. Alabama, which together limit the availability of juvenile life without parole sentences, also apply to so-called de facto life sentences. De facto life sentences are lengthy term-of-years sentences that confine offenders to prison for the majority, if not the entirety, …

Deserving Life: How Judicial Application Of Medical Amnesty Laws Perpetuates Substance Use Stigma, Scott Koven

Washington and Lee Law Review

To combat the continued devastation wrought by the opioid crisis in the United States, forty-eight states have passed medical amnesty (or “Good Samaritan”) laws. These laws provide varying forms of protection from criminal punishment for certain individuals if medical assistance is sought at the scene of an overdose. Thus far, the nascent scholarly conversation on medical amnesty has focused on the types of statutory protections available and the effectiveness of these statutes. To summarize, although medical amnesty laws have helped combat drug overdose, the statutes are replete with arbitrary limitations that cabin their life-saving potential.

This Note extends the dialogue …

Analyzing African American College Student Willingness To Participate In Clinical Trials, Caitlin B. Ulmer

Senior Theses

Previous studies regarding African American participation in clinical trials have found that African Americans participate at a significantly lower rate than other ethnic/racial groups. Scholars argue that this lack of participation in clinical trials is a direct result of historical trauma linked to unethical experiments and African American distrust in the healthcare system. However, there is a gap in the literature because these studies focus on African American individuals above the age of 30. This study aimed to fill the gap by examining clinical trial participation among African American college students within the ages 18 to 23. This study also …

Why Cities Fail: The Urban Security Crisis In Ecuador, Jorge Mantilla, Carolina Andrade, Maria Fe Vallejo

Journal of Strategic Security

Compared to other countries in Latin America, Ecuador was traditionally considered a peaceful territory. However, 2022 was the most violent year in the history of Ecuador with a homicide rate of 25.6. In particular, the littoral city of Guayaquil (46.6) poses extraordinary challenges to Ecuadorian security agencies while criminal governance and firepower of criminal armed groups increased steadily in the past four years. This paper explores the relationship between ports, violence, and governance in the context of criminal wars. Through a process-tracing method, it studies the path through which Guayaquil ended up in a security crisis between 2018 and 2022. …

Indicium Ex Machina: Unstructured Sentencing And Disparate Outcomes In Canada, Damilola Awotula

LLM Theses

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have caused a wave of technological normality. As expected, the criminal justice system, and more increasingly, criminal sentencing is seeing a trend of “technosolutionism” due to real concerns about unjustified disparity. Truly, artificial intelligence has the prospect of making the sentencing process more effective, value-driven, consistent, and predictable. However, relying on the assumption that using such a system may require being confined to the normative sentencing traditions of each country, this thesis argues that there are crucial questions to be addressed about how this technological normality fits within the normative pillars of extant legal principles, …

The Politicization Of Criminal Prosecutions, Wadie E. Said

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Strategies For Low Literacy Adult Learners, Kelly Rynda

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that low-literacy adult learners have different needs than children or more proficient adult readers, but teaching strategies are not often aimed at these students. The professional development presentation developed for this project focuses on the characteristics of these learners, how low-literacy skills affect their lives, and which interventions educators can use in the classroom. Key interventions include Robinson’s suggestions around word recognition, Tighe and Binder’s recommendations about morphology and fluency, Mellard and Fall’s ideas around language comprehension, Park’s suggestions for critical literacy, and Rodrigo et al.’s recommendations around reading for pleasure. The project shares information about the …

Rooted In Grant County, Jenna Gerig

Public Relations Student Projects

Because the goal of this campaign is to promote Grant County assets, initial research sought to assess communication throughout the county, gather insight on the impact of churches, and accumulate information on how to best retain its college students. Research also sought to identify the personas of Grant County residents to discover their values and beliefs. Additional research helped determine the most appealing assets, including churches and nonprofits, universities, parks and venues, events, and affordable living. Additionally, a survey was conducted to understand why students who attend colleges in Grant County choose to leave the county upon graduation.

Impact Of An Opioid Harm Reduction Consortium: Emergency And Justice Engagement, Maren Wright Wright Voss, Gabriele Ciciurkaite, Matthew Huntington, Melissa Flint, Emily Hamilton, Jennifer Peatross

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Utah State University Extension engaged first responders and law enforcement officials in a consortium to identify local needs related to opioid use disorder (OUD). To this end, the Tooele Opioid Response Network (TORN) conducted three first-responder harm reduction summits to meet local overdose prevention needs. The initiative trained over 200 personnel, which resulted in an 87.5% increase in knowledge related to harm reduction. TORN also facilitated the acquisition of $90,000 in funding for jail-based opioid medication and the disbursement of 400 naloxone kits and training to incarcerated persons at discharge.

Does Criminalizing Torture Deter Police Torture?, Mark S. Berlin

Political Science Faculty Research and Publications

Much research casts doubt on the effectiveness of legal norms for improving respect for human rights. But such studies have mostly focused on treaty ratifications or constitutional provisions. In contrast, I focus on national criminal law. I argue that criminalization of torture is more likely to deter police torture than these other forms of legal prohibition, because criminalization more credibly increases the threat of material and social costs of torture, while also helping to catalyze mobilization that amplifies these deterrent effects. Using an original, global dataset on national criminal laws against torture, I find that states that criminalize torture and …

Innocent Until Proven Mentally Incompetent., Jade Smith

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

The Death Penalty Seals Racial Minorities’ Fate: The Unfortunate Realities Of Being A Racial Minority In America., Sarah Garcia

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Expungement In Pennsylvania After Pardon: Excluded By Clean Slate Limited Access, Joseph H. O’Donnell

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Pennsylvania law provides several methods to protect or dispose of a criminal record. Methods to protect a criminal record from public view include expungement, limited access, clean slate limited access, and pardon. Expungement is a relatively limited right in Pennsylvania, but individuals do have a right to expungement upon receipt of a governor’s pardon. This right was created by case law. However, not every state follows this model. The recently enacted Clean Slate Limited Access Act created automated sealing for certain offenses, including cases where the Governor issued a pardon. This created a system of double protection for criminal records …

Case Global: Seeking Asylum, Case Western Reserve University School Of Law, The Frederick K. Cox International Law Center

Case Global Newsletter

Vol. 15, No. 1 (2023)

• Paving the way for prosecutions of war crimes in Yemen
• Educating 165,000+ through online course
• Rising Leaders
• Pursuing accountability
• Learning abroad through international internships
• Seeking asylum
• A look at our international law faculty
• Meet National Jurist’s Law Student of the Year
• Fighting for human rights

In Brief, Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

In Brief

• High marks
• World-class center
• Learning the law online
• Developing inclusivity
• Pursuing accountability
• Scholarly impact
• Distinguished speakers
• Team effort
• Rising leaders
• In the press
• A Decade of deanship
• From classroom to courtroom
• Seeking asylum
• Diploma day
• Society of Benchers
• 2022-2023 Law Alumni Association
• Class notes
• Congratulations
• Jamming for Justice
• Empower future leaders
• Making "CWRU happen"
• In memoriam
• Honor roll
• A legacy for LLEAP
• Law firm giving challenge
• Fighting for human rights
• Global experience, local impact

Progressive Prosecution Or Zealous Public Defense? The Choice For Law Students Concerned About Our Flawed Criminal Legal System, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article addresses a question asked by many law students concerned about our flawed criminal legal system: should they become a prosecutor in an office run by a progressive prosecutor, or a public defender in an office devoted to zealous, client-centered (or holistic) defense? The Article starts with an anecdote about Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s road show to recruit law students and young lawyers, and then proceeds as follows: First, this Article makes the case for progressive prosecution; then, it makes the case for zealous indigent defense; then, it identifies the obstacles and challenges for both kinds of lawyers …

State Of Tennessee Board Of Parole 2022-23 Annual Report, Tennessee. Board Of Parole.

Board of Parole

No abstract provided.

A Fiduciary Theory Of Progressive Prosecution, Bruce Green, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

Progressive prosecutors differ from their more traditional counterparts primarily in the way in which they make decisions. They tend to bind their discretion by announcing categorical policies rather than making fact-based decisions case by case. This article catalogs the unusual degree of pushback progressive prosecutors have encountered from the public, legislatures, courts, police, and their own subordinate prosecutors. Drawing on fiduciary theory, it explains this reaction as a response to progressive prosecutors’ abdication of their fiduciary role. As a public fiduciary, prosecutors are entrusted with protecting the public’s abstract interest in justice, and an integral part of this role is …