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Full-Text Articles in Law
Overcriminalization's New Harm Paradigm, Todd Haugh
Overcriminalization's New Harm Paradigm, Todd Haugh
Vanderbilt Law Review
The harms of overcriminalization are usually thought of in a particular way-that the proliferation of criminal laws leads to increasing and inconsistent criminal enforcement and adjudication. For example, an offender commits an unethical or illegal act and, because of the overwhelming depth and breadth of the criminal law, becomes subject to too much prosecutorial discretion and faces disparate enforcement or punishment. But there is an additional, possibly more pernicious, harm of overcriminalization. Drawing from the fields of criminology and behavioral ethics, this Article makes the case that overcriminalization actually increases the commission of criminal behavior itself, particularly by white collar …
Misdemeanor Decriminalization, Alexandra Natapoff
Misdemeanor Decriminalization, Alexandra Natapoff
Vanderbilt Law Review
As the United States reconsiders its stance on mass incarceration, misdemeanor decriminalization has emerged as an increasingly popular reform. Seen as a potential cure for crowded jails and an overburdened defense bar, many states are eliminating jail time for minor offenses such as marijuana possession and driving violations, replacing those crimes with so-called "nonjailable" or "fine-only" offenses. This form of reclassification is widely perceived as a way of saving millions of state dollars-nonjailable offenses do not trigger the right to counsel-while easing the punitive impact on defendants, and it has strong support from progressives and conservatives alike. But decriminalization has …
Criminal Asset Forfeiture And The Sixth Amendment After "Southern Union" And "Alleyne:" State-Level Ramifications, Brynn Applebaum
Criminal Asset Forfeiture And The Sixth Amendment After "Southern Union" And "Alleyne:" State-Level Ramifications, Brynn Applebaum
Vanderbilt Law Review
The Founding Fathers thought the jury-trial right was so fundamental to our system of justice that they included it in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The right to trial by jury serves to protect criminal defendants against government overreaching by ensuring that they will be judged by their fellow citizens.' And as a whole, our system of justice and our citizenry have remained committed to the jury trial. But since the Founding, the Supreme Court has narrowed the application of the Sixth Amendment's guaranty.
Two decades ago, the Supreme Court decided in Libretti v. United States that …