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Consent In Criminal Law: Violence In Sports, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Because there have been few criminal prosecutions for violence in sports, there are several difficult issues that have received only cursory analysis. This Note will focus on one such issue-the existence and effect of the consent of the injured party. In section I, it will analyze the various general theories relating to the nature of actual consent and will suggest that the current theoretical framework's emphasis on ascertaining the victim's subjective state of mind is, in some contexts, ill-conceived and unhelpful. It will argue that societal interests involved in human interactions should become a major focus of any analysis, particularly …

Objectivity And Habeas Corpus: Should Federal District Court Judges Be Permitted To Rule Upon The Validity Of Their Own Criminal Trial Conduct?, Marilyn L. Kelley

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It has already been suggested that one of the main purposes of section 2255 was to provide a convenient forum in which the trial judge might testify, if necessary. That purpose is, obviously, contrary to the interpretation rendered in Carvell.

Beyond this inconsistency, Carvell suggests two significant issues: first, that it is highly desirable that the motions be passed upon by the judge who is familiar with the facts; and second, that the criminal trial judge is not likely to be misled by allegations in the 2255 petition as to what had occurred. The first issue raises the question …

Criminal Redistribution Of Stolen Property: The Need For Law Reform, G. Robert Blakey, Michael Goldsmith

Michigan Law Review

Section I of this article describes various theft and fencing operations. As will be evident from that discussion, the most sophisticated fences are far removed from those receivers who are owners of seedy pawnshops or who indiscriminately select potential customers on the street, and thus they pose peculiar problems for law enforcement. Section II then identifies inadequacies in existing investigative techniques and in the substantive laws of receiving in light of modern theft and fencing operations. It proposes changes in the law and suggests appropriate law enforcement strategies to facilitate the detection and conviction of alleged fences. Needed changes in …

The Legacy Of The Stubborn And Rebellious Son, Irene Merker Rosenberg, Yale L. Rosenberg

Michigan Law Review

In twentieth century America, as in Biblical ,times, parents unable to subdue their disobedient children are authorized to invoke the coercive power of the state. As recently as 1971, for example, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected constitutional challenges to the state's "stubborn child" law, which at the time of its original enactment in 1646 was patterned after the above-quoted verse from Deuteronomy. The court upheld an adjudication that an adolescent girl who refused to submit to a medical examination, used vulgar language, slammed doors, and stayed outside the home "probably talking with the boys," was a "stubborn child" …

Pretrial Diversion: The Premature Quest For Recognition, Raymond T. Nimmer, Patricia Ann Krauthaus

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Pretrial diversion has been one of the most enthusiastically promoted criminal justice reforms of recent years. There are more than forty well-funded diversion programs in operation dealing with more than 10,000 criminal defendants each year. Three federal commissions have referred favorably to diversion and grant programs of both the Justice Department and the Department of Labor which have actively fostered the creation and expansion of diversion programs. Several states are considering legislation to establish diversion as a formal element of the criminal justice system and federal legislation is currently pending. Many advocates of diversion claim that the concept has been …

Some Non-Religious Views Against Proposed 'Mercy-Killing' Legislation Part Ii, Yale Kamisar

Articles

There have been and there will continue to be compelling circumstances when a doctor or relative or friend will violate The Law On The Books and, more often than not, receive protection from The Law In Action. But this is not to deny that there are other occasions when The Law On The Books operates to stay the hand of all concerned, among them situations where the patient is in fact ( 1 ) presently incurable, ( 2) beyond the aid of any respite which may come along in his life expectancy, suffering ( 3 ) intolerable and ( 4) …

Some Non-Religious Views Against Proposed 'Mercy-Killing' Legislation Part I, Yale Kamisar

Articles

In essence, Williams' specific proposal is that death be authorized for a person in the above situation "by giving the medical practitioner a wide discretion and trusting to his good sense." This, I submit, raises too great a risk of abuse and mistake to warrant a change in the existing law. That a proposal entails risk of mistake is hardly a conclusive reason against it. But neither is it irrelevant. Under any euthanasia program the consequences of mistake, of course, are always fatal. As I shall endeavor to show, the incidence of mistake of one kind or another is likely …

Juvenile Obscenity Statutes: A Proposal And Analysis, Jerold H. Israel, Rita Ann Burns

Articles

The article that follows is based largely upon a Study Report on juvenile obscenity statutes prepared for the Michigan Law Revision Commission. The objectives of the Report were (1) to analyze the various issues presented in drafting a juvenile obscenity provision, (2) to survey the treatment of those issues in statutes adopted by various states and statutes proposed by several distinguished commissions, and (3) to propose a comprehensive model statute that offers a choice of alternative provisions on key areas of controversy. Certain limitations placed upon the scope of the Report (and this article) should be noted. First, we were …

The Jury And The English Law Of Homicide, 1200-1600, Thomas A. Green

Articles

The early English jury was self-informing and composed of persons supposed to have first-hand knowledge of the events and persons in question. The judge instructed the jury on the law, but was himself almost entirely dependent upon the jury for his knowledge of the case. By stating the evidence in a way that made the result it wanted a necessary conclusion, the medieval jury was able to alter the impact of formal rules of law to conform with prevailing social attitudes.

The Allocation Of Prosecution: An Economic Analysis, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note uses economic theory to reassess the division of prosecutorial tasks between victims and the government for offenses other than victimless offenses. It attempts to answer in a general manner questions such as why the prosecutor should differ from offense to offense and where ,the line should be drawn between governmental and individual prosecution. Work done in the areas of welfare economics and public finance concerning the effectiveness of government and the private sector in providing different sorts of goods is drawn upon heavily. This Note views prosecution as an economic good and a victim's prosecution of an offender …

Some Observations On The Disposition Of Ccw Cases In Detroit, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note details the disposition of cases alleging violations of the Michigan CCW statute that were brought in the Detroit recorder's court during 1973. Although the statute is only part of the current scheme of gun control in Michigan, it is the principal weapon available to the police and prosecutor in the preventive battle against the illegal use of firearms. To give meaning to the dispositional statistics and to aid in perceiving the over-all judicial attitude toward CCW cases, the statistical results of the study are compared with statistics on the disposition of cases involving felonies similar …