Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Criminal Law

PDF

Cleveland State Law Review

Journal

Excessive force

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Duty To Charge In Police Use Of Excessive Force Cases, Rebecca Roiphe Jul 2017

The Duty To Charge In Police Use Of Excessive Force Cases, Rebecca Roiphe

Cleveland State Law Review

Responding to the problems of mass incarceration, racial disparities in justice, and wrongful convictions, scholars have focused on prosecutorial overcharging. They have, however, neglected to address undercharging—the failure to charge in entire classes of cases. Undercharging can similarly undermine the efficacy and legitimacy of the criminal justice system. While few have focused on this question in the domestic criminal law context, international law scholars have long recognized the social and structural cost for nascent democratic states when they fail to charge those responsible for the prior regime’s human rights abuses. This sort of impunity threatens the rule of law and …


Restoring Independence To The Grand Jury: A Victim Advocate For The Police Use Of Force Cases, Jonathan Witmer-Rich Jul 2017

Restoring Independence To The Grand Jury: A Victim Advocate For The Police Use Of Force Cases, Jonathan Witmer-Rich

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article proposes a grand jury victim advocate to represent the interests of the complainant before the grand jury in investigations into police use of excessive force. Currently, the prosecutor has near-exclusive access to the grand jury, and as a result, grand juries have become almost entirely dependent on prosecutors. Historically, however, grand juries exhibited much greater independence. In particular, grand juries have a long history in America of providing oversight over government officials, bringing criminal charges for official misconduct even when local prosecutors proved reluctant. Permitting the alleged victim of police excessive force to be represented before the grand …


To Exhaust Or Not To Exhaust: The Prisoner Litigation Reform Act Requires Prisoners To Exhaust All Administrative Remedies Before Filing Excessive Force Claims In Federal Court, Danielle M. Mcgill Jan 2002

To Exhaust Or Not To Exhaust: The Prisoner Litigation Reform Act Requires Prisoners To Exhaust All Administrative Remedies Before Filing Excessive Force Claims In Federal Court, Danielle M. Mcgill

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note addresses this issue and recommends that excessive force claims be subject to the PLRA's exhaustion requirement, thereby requiring an inmate to exhaust administrative remedies before filing an excessive force suit in federal court. Requiring exhaustion for excessive force claims will help solve the problems associated with the overabundance of frivolous prisoner litigation and the federal judiciary's unnecessary interference into the nation's prison administrations. Moreover, the excessive force issue is in the forefront because the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Porter v. Nussle, a case dealing exclusively with this issue. The lower court, in Nussle v. Willette, allowed an …