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Al Capone's Revenge: An Essay On The Political Economy Of Pretextual Prosecution, Daniel C. Richman, William J. Stuntz
Al Capone's Revenge: An Essay On The Political Economy Of Pretextual Prosecution, Daniel C. Richman, William J. Stuntz
Faculty Scholarship
Most analyses of pretextual prosecutions – cases in which prosecutors target defendants based on suspicion of one crime but prosecute them for another, lesser crime – focus on the defendant's interest in fair treatment. Far too little attention is given to the strong social interest in non-pretextual prosecutions. Charging criminals with their "true" crimes makes criminal law enforcement more transparent, and hence more politically accountable. It probably also facilitates deterrence. Meanwhile, prosecutorial strategies of the sort used to "get" Al Capone can create serious credibility problems. The Justice Department has struggled with those problems as it has used Capone-style strategies …
Sentencing: Learning From, And Worrying About, The States, Gerard E. Lynch
Sentencing: Learning From, And Worrying About, The States, Gerard E. Lynch
Faculty Scholarship
The Columbia Law Review's Symposium on sentencing, which took place less than two weeks after the Supreme Court's dramatic semi-invalidation of the federal sentencing guidelines, was certainly timely. Nevertheless, it is critical to understanding the Symposium's purposes to realize that it was not planned in response to United States v. Booker, or even to Blakely v. Washington. The Symposium was conceived before either case was decided, as a very conscious attempt to steer the discussion of sentencing away from Congress and the federal guidelines and toward states' experiences. The vast majority of criminals are sentenced in state …