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Criminal Law

Pepperdine Law Review

Death penalty

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Blurred Lines: How To Rationally Understand The “Rational Understanding” Doctrine After Madison V. Alabama, Cassidy Young Mar 2021

Blurred Lines: How To Rationally Understand The “Rational Understanding” Doctrine After Madison V. Alabama, Cassidy Young

Pepperdine Law Review

In Madison v. Alabama, the Supreme Court held that a capital inmate’s inability to remember his crime did not render him incompetent to be executed. The Court reasoned that an individual who suffers from episodic memory loss may still “rationally understand” society’s reasons for sentencing him to death for a crime he once committed. This Note explores the impact of memory loss on a person’s self-identity, and consequently challenges the notion that a capital inmate who no longer remembers his crime can truly have a rational understanding of it. Specifically, this Note examines how memory loss substantially weakens the two …


Opinion: A Two-Part State Supreme Court, Stanley Mosk Jan 2013

Opinion: A Two-Part State Supreme Court, Stanley Mosk

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Thompson V. Oklahoma: Debating The Constitutionality Of Juvenile Executions, Susan M. Simmons Jan 2013

Thompson V. Oklahoma: Debating The Constitutionality Of Juvenile Executions, Susan M. Simmons

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.