Law Commons^™

Beyond Compare: A Codefendant's Prison Sentence As A Mitigating Factor In Death Penalty Cases, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier

Florida Law Review

This Article addresses whether the U.S. Constitution requires courts to permit capital defendants to submit, during sentencing, the mitigating factor that a codefendant for the same murder was sentenced to prison instead of to death.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly stressed the important of mitigating factors in capital cases. For the most part, litigation since the reintroduction of capital punishment in the 1970s has clarified what circumstances are to be weighed as mitigating. But the Court has not addressed the current divide among lower courts regarding whether the Eighth Amendment requires courts to allow juries to consider a codefendant's …

Life In Jail For Misbehavior: Criminal Contempt And The Consequence Of Improper Classification, Kaley Ree Jaslow

Florida Law Review

Contempt is a crime that can be traced back to twelfth century England. It was an offense of disobedience that caused the obstruction of justice, and the punishment of such crimes was deeply important to the English justice system. Subsequent to the American Revolution, early American courts retained the use of contempt. Today, in the United States, criminal contempt is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 401. Despite the federal code, actions that exemplify contempt are not specifically defined by statute. Judges are granted broad discretion in determining which actions are contemptuous and which are not. Moreover, federal criminal …

Reconceptualizing Criminal Justice Reform For Offenders With Serious Mental Illness, E. Lea Johnston

Florida Law Review

Roughly 14% of male inmates and 31% of female inmates suffer from one or more serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Policymakers and the public widely ascribe the overrepresentation of offenders with serious mental illness in the justice system to the “criminalization” of the symptoms of this afflicted population. The criminalization theory posits that the criminal justice system has served as the primary agent of social control over symptomatic individuals since the closure of state psychiatric hospitals in the 1950s and the tightening of civil commitment laws. The theory identifies untreated mental illness as …

Coordinating Community Reintegration Services For “Deportable Alien” Defendants: A Moral And Financial Imperative, Amy F. Kimpel

Florida Law Review

Recidivism rates for individuals who are convicted of illegal entry and re-entry (U.S.C. §§ 1325 and 1326) are quite high despite post-sentencing deportations. The “holistic defense” model developed in New York City at the Neighborhood Defender Services and Bronx Defenders has been instrumental in achieving better outcomes for criminal defendants and their communities, in large part due to an emphasis on re-entry or reintegration services for defendants being released from incarceration. However, that model is difficult to implement when applied to noncitizen defendants who are to be deported. This Article argues that some attention to re-entry services for deportable non-citizen …

Taming Self-Defense: Using Deadly Force To Prevent Escapes, Robert Leider

Florida Law Review

The modern fleeing felon rule permits police officers to use deadly force when necessary to prevent the escape of a person who has committed a violent felony. To justify this rule, the Supreme Court has relied on self-defense and defense of others. This Article argues against the self-defense justification. Fleeing felons—even those suspected of violent crimes—are not imminent threats to others solely by virtue of their flight. Stretching self-defense doctrine to justify the fleeing felon rule undermines critical limitations on private self-defense and has not produced an effective set of rules to limit police violence.

This Article further argues that …