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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Law
Curing America's Addiction To Prisons, David C. Leven
Curing America's Addiction To Prisons, David C. Leven
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Our prisons have failed society because they do not, generally, provide an experience that is likely to help offenders overcome the obstacles that led them to make mistakes for which they are now being punished. Instead, they reinforce the violence and exploitation that many offenders were sentenced to prison for in the first place. They have failed because they do not promote restoration, a key to successful reintegration, and nobody benefits when offenders are more dangerous when they are released than when they entered prison. This Essay proposes that a restorative model of justice replace our failed punitive model. By …
Considering Lead Poisoning As A Criminal Defense, Deborah W. Denno
Considering Lead Poisoning As A Criminal Defense, Deborah W. Denno
Fordham Urban Law Journal
A brief survey of the causes and consequences of lead poisoning suggests that lead poisoning is pervasive, particularly among blacks in urban communities, that it's effects can be debilitating, and that it has been linked to disciplinary problems, aggression, and repetitive and oftentimes violent crime. There is a legitimate question, then, about whether lead poisoning should be considered a viable criminal defense. The question of whether lead poisoning should be a defense is perhaps most appropriately placed in the context of debates regarding free will, determinism, and the ability of social scientists to predict the course of any one individual's …
Needed: A Community Experiment In Problem-Oriented Justice, Felice Kirby, Michael Clark, Tim Wall
Needed: A Community Experiment In Problem-Oriented Justice, Felice Kirby, Michael Clark, Tim Wall
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This essay examines some of the problems widely perceived to exist within the criminal justice system. Our experience is that when both the community and the police communicate and become more involved with each other, notable successes have transpired. The strategy of community policing affords the police agency, and through it the community at large, a chance for problem-solving every time an officer responds to an incident. This is in contrast to what is now considered traditional policing, whereby a 911 operator, removed from the scene of the incident, dispatches officers and then urges them to move on as soon …
The Political Economy Of Female Violent Street Crime, Deborah Baskin, Ira Sommers, Jeffrey Fagan
The Political Economy Of Female Violent Street Crime, Deborah Baskin, Ira Sommers, Jeffrey Fagan
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Our research has led us to the conclusion that women in New York City are becoming more and more likely to involve themselves in violent street crimes. This essay analyzes the developing role of women in violent street crime and poses a model, based on both historical analysis and empirical research, to explain the participation of women in violent street crimes in the 1980s.
Maiming The Soul: Judges, Sentencing And The Myth Of The Nonviolent Rapist, Lynn Hecht Schafran
Maiming The Soul: Judges, Sentencing And The Myth Of The Nonviolent Rapist, Lynn Hecht Schafran
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Rape, by definition and in sentencing, is a crime that is predicated on a male-defined concept of violence. The lack of knowledge about rape trauma produces erroneous assessments or rape and erroneous sentences for rapists. The inability to recognize the damage cause by a "nonviolent" rape trivializes the seriousness of the crime and devalues the individual victim. Judges and attorneys must expand their definitions of violence to include injury to the victim's psyche.
Urban Criminal Justice: Has The Response To The Hiv Epidemic Been "Fair"?, Richard J. Andrias
Urban Criminal Justice: Has The Response To The Hiv Epidemic Been "Fair"?, Richard J. Andrias
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The HIV epidemic is almost a decade old and it is estimated that one million to two million Americans are infected. Nevertheless, too often it has been irrational fears of contagion and disapproval of the subcultures associated with the illness that have driven society's response to the epidemic. Has the legal community, which prides itself on being governed by due process and rationality, reacted any differently than society at large? To what degree have legal decisions and policies been governed by fear, prejudice, and ignorance rather than by science and sound public policy? This Essay will explore the response of …
The Urban Crimnal Justice System: A Case Of Fairness, John F. Keenan
The Urban Crimnal Justice System: A Case Of Fairness, John F. Keenan
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This short essay contains the presiding judges recollections of the case People v. Robles as a way to discuss public perception of fairness in the criminal justice system.
The High Cost Of Juvenile Justice, Diane Ridley Gatewood
The High Cost Of Juvenile Justice, Diane Ridley Gatewood
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay will discuss the high cost of incarcerating substantial numbers of minority juveniles and will advocate alternatives to detention. The author discusses how minority youth are disproportionately affected at multiple stages of the criminal justice process: arrests, detentions, adjudication, and disposition. The Essay further discusses the increased use of the prison system for juveniles. The Essay concludes with several recommendations for how minority youth can be treated more fairly within the system and recommends alternatives to incarceration.
The Urban Criminal Justice System Can Be Fair, Charles J. Hynes
The Urban Criminal Justice System Can Be Fair, Charles J. Hynes
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This essay contains perspectives on fairness in the criminal justice system. It is written by a prosecutor with experience in an urban setting. He touches on topics such as racism, jury selection, the Rodney King case, the Howard Beach Case.
What Is A "Fair" Reponse To Juvenile Crime?, Susan K. Knipps
What Is A "Fair" Reponse To Juvenile Crime?, Susan K. Knipps
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The question of how to deal fairly and effectively with the problem of juvenile crime has long perplexed the public and policy makers. The current juvenile justice system in New York State reflects this uncertainty -- as it simultaneously employs two completely different models for the adjudication of juveniles accused of unlawful acts. The first model emphasizes the provision of rehabilitative services for delinquent youth through noncriminal proceedings in the Family Court. The second model stresses the use of punitive sanctions in the adult criminal courts for more serious juvenile offenders. To begin to sort through these models, this Essay …
Jails And Prisons -- Reservoirs Of Tb Disease: Should Defendants With Hiv Infection (Who Cannot Swim) Be Thrown Into The Reservoir?, Faith Colangelo, Mariana Hogan
Jails And Prisons -- Reservoirs Of Tb Disease: Should Defendants With Hiv Infection (Who Cannot Swim) Be Thrown Into The Reservoir?, Faith Colangelo, Mariana Hogan
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) in urban areas has direct and alarming consequences within the criminal justice system. Lock-up facilities, jails and prisons are TB breeding grounds. TB strikes with vengeance in populations with physical vulnerabilities caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS and other immune-suppressing conditions. This Essay argues that it is time for New York State to reevaluate the mandatory sentencing laws and restrictions on plea bargaining. The interaction of HIV disease and TB offers a striking example of why justice is not served by binding the judiciary's hands. This Essay provides a medical overview of HIV …
A Moral Standard For The Prosecutor's Exercise Of The Charging Discretion, Bennett L. Gershman
A Moral Standard For The Prosecutor's Exercise Of The Charging Discretion, Bennett L. Gershman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The prosecutor's decision to institute criminal charges is the broadest and least regulated power in American criminal law. The judicial deference shown to prosecutors generally is most noticeable with respect to the charging function. This Essay discusses three hypothetical cases that present both realistic and recurring challenges to the prosecutor's charging power. The first case depends on a factual determination of a witness's reliability. The second case depends on a factual determination of the witness's truthfulness. The third case revolves around a legal determination regarding the applicability of a defense. Together, these cases provide a setting in which a moral …
Should Judges Consider The Demographics Of The Jury Pool In Deciding Change Of Venue Application?, Peter M. Kougasian
Should Judges Consider The Demographics Of The Jury Pool In Deciding Change Of Venue Application?, Peter M. Kougasian
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay considers the narrow question of whether, in changing venue, a court ought in principle to consider the demographic diversity of the venue. Deciding this issue require consideration of two preliminary questions: what is an impartial jury? And what role, if any, does racial diversity play in empaneling an impartial jury? The Rodney King trial raises questions about the dynamics of the jury panel, rather than the qualifications of individual jurors. After the Rodney King verdict, the Court's reasoning in the Batson line of cases seems naive for two reasons. First, the Court's faith in the ability of voire …
"A Good Murder", Leigh B. Bienen
"A Good Murder", Leigh B. Bienen
Fordham Urban Law Journal
People are profoundly interested in crimes because the law and legal punishments are supposed to address the fundamental human craving for justice. Courts are embedded in this system of law because we do not rust individuals alone or groups to judge fairly. This essay will describe a pattern which emerged when researchers examined all homicide cases in the state of New Jersey during the years immediately after the reimposition of capital punishment in 1982. Particularly relevant is the pattern of capital punishment for urban and suburban murders, and how those cases were regarded by law enforcement, the media, and the …
Urban Criminal Justice: No Fairer Than The Larger Society, Joanne Page
Urban Criminal Justice: No Fairer Than The Larger Society, Joanne Page
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay reflects the author's personal perspective on the fairness of the criminal justice system. She argues that the key to assessing the fairness of the system is to examine it, not in isolation, but within a larger social context. The criminal justice system is part of the larger society, shares its values and is shaped by its allocation of resources. The criminal justice system is consistent with the values of that larger society: It treats the lives of poor people and people of color as being of inferior worth, skewing its intervention toward control and punishment rather than toward …
The Urban Criminal Justice System: Where Young + Black + Male = Probable Cause, Elizabeth A. Gaynes
The Urban Criminal Justice System: Where Young + Black + Male = Probable Cause, Elizabeth A. Gaynes
Fordham Urban Law Journal
We live in a country where one out of four young African-American men is under some form of custodial supervision. In our nation's capital, seven out of ten African-American men can anticipate being arrested and jailed at least once before reaching the age of thirty-five. We live in a city where a black man between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four is far more likely to die of homicide than all other causes combined. The official response to the problem of urban crime by minority youth has been prison, prison, and more prison. This essay provides an overview and examples …