Law Commons^™

Domestic Terror (The Sniper Suspect's Divorce Records Show Patterns Of Power And Control And Missed Opportunities By The System To Intervene.), Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the past few months, we have learned much about the violent, troubled life of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad. Whether or not he pulled the trigger - some recent reports have pointed to his 17-year-old companion Lee Boyd Malvo as the main shooter - there is no doubt in the minds of domestic-violence experts that this adult is responsible for these deaths.

While many pundits conclude that we will never know what motivated the sniper suspect, to domestic violence experts his is an all-too-familiar story of a man whose relationships with the women and children - possibly including Malvo …

Are Police Free To Disregard Miranda?, Steven D. Clymer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Constitutional Dignity And The Criminal Law, James E. Baker

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Criminal law is important because it helps to define who we are as a constitutional democracy. There is much that distinguishes our form of government from others, but certainly much of that distinction is found in the Bill of Rights and in two simple words: due process. All of which help to affirm the value and sanctity of the individual in our society. Broadly then, criminal law helps to define who we are as a nation that values both order and liberty.

That is what many of the greatest judicial debates are about, like those involving Holmes, Hand, Jackson, and …

4th Annual Computer & Technology Law Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 4th Annual Computer & Technology Law Institute held by UK/CLE in November 2002.

Tailored Police Testimony At Suppression Hearings, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Whether a court must suppress evidence typically turns on the conduct or observations of the police officer who discovered the evidence. By falsely testifying to the facts surrounding the discovery of the evidence, a police officer may validate a blatantly unconstitutional search. New York courts have long recognized that police officers sometimes fabricate suppression testimony to meet constitutional restrictions. Indeed, the Appellate Division has rejected police testimony at suppression hearings where the officer’s testimony appears to have been “patently tailored to nullify constitutional objections.” Although, to be sure, rejections are rare and their number appears to be declining, the appellate …

A Community Of Courts: Toward A System Of International Criminal Law Enforcement, William W. Burke-White

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Convictions Of Innocent Persons In Massachusetts: An Overview, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars documenting the incidence and causes of wrongful convictions in the United States have focused on cases arising all across the country. Because reform of the practices that lead to such errors of justice must largely take place on the state level, there is value in examining wrongful convictions in particular jurisdictions. This article attempts to identify and briefly describe all known cases of conviction of innocent persons in Massachusetts from 1800 to the present time. Part I discusses the criteria for identifying "the innocent." For the purpose of gaining support for needed reforms in the law, the most persuasive …

A Skeptical Answer To Edmundson's Contextualism: What We Know We Lawyers Know, Rob Atkinson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Section 8: Criminal Law & Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Sneak And Peak Search Warrants, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

In his recent article "Taking Liberty with Freedom," author Richard P. Moore reminds us that the USA Patriot Act, signed by President Bush last Oct. 26 in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "gives the government the kind of sweeping powers of arrest, detention, surveillance, investigation, deportation, and search and seizure that ... assault ... our most basic freedoms."

I want to examine here a single section of the USA Patriot Act--section 213, definitely one of the most sinister provisions of this monstrous statute.

Gallery Of The Doomed: An Exploration Of Creative Endeavors By The Condemned, Roberta M. Harding

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article examines creative expressions produced by the death row faction of the incarcerated population. Looking at these works provide insights about what it means to live as a condemned person in our society, and about the people who occupy the death rows across our nation. After reviewing and analyzing a substantial amount of the enormous body of work of this genre, it became apparent that the condemned's creative endeavors reflect how they address and handle serious issues such as their executions and the ways spirituality influences their life. When the individual issues are examined, two general themes are evident: …

In Defence Of The Right To Trial By Jury: A Solution To The Ailing Czech Justice System?, Susan Rutberg

Publications

According to the pollsters, public confidence in the Czech justice system is very low. 65% of Czechs do not trust their judges. Certainly, there is a connection between this mistrust and the fact that approximately 40% of the CR's 2500 current judges have been on the bench since before 1989. To an outsider, it seems surprising that the post-communist governments did not make changes to a system that had been controlled by the Communist party. The institution of trial by jury may be one way to promote public confidence in the Czech justice system.

The purpose of this article is …

The First Amendment And "Virtual" Child Pornography, Michael B. Landau

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Beware Of The Dog: Assaults In Prison And Cultures Of Secrecy, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In recent months I have been involved in a series of personal injury claims made by prisoners, against the State of NSW, arising out of incidents of inmate violence. The standard scenario occurs on a Sunday where the victim is stabbed with a shiv in a prison yard, barber-shop or gymnasium, out of sight from prison officers. Most victims have suffered a history of violence and intimidation in gaol, and the injuries forming the basis of the claims, are generally shocking. There are many reasons for inmate violence. A disturbing feature of such violence in NSW prisons today is its …

Street Legal: The Court Affords Police Constitutional Carte Blanche To Arrest, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This article discusses the Supreme Court's landmark 2001 decision Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, upholding the authority of police to execute warrantless arrests for menial offenses (there, failure to wear a seatbelt) so long as police have probable cause to support such arrests.

The Party Line, Myron Moskovitz

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Party Line, Myron Moskovitz

Publications

No abstract provided.

Death As Deterrent Or Prosecutorial Tool? Examining The Impact Of Louisiana’S Child Rape Law, Angela Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

This project measures the impact of a 1995 amendment to Louisiana’s aggravated rape statute that allows juries to consider imposing the death penalty for convicted child rapists. Preamendment populations of cases from two large parishes (counties) were compared to postamendment populations of cases. In addition, 40 individual case files were randomly selected and reviewed. Variables measuring certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment were compared. The only significant change was the reduction of trials, which may be linked to an increased propensity for plea agreements, dismissals, and charge reductions. In general, offenders initially charged with aggravated rape of a child seemed …

The Linguist On The Witness Stand: Forensic Linguistics In American Courts, Lawrence Solan, Peter Tiersma

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Institutional Sexual Abuse - Grand Jury Report Cpl §190.85(1)(C), Robert Ewald

Faculty Works: Criminal Justice and Legal Studies

A Special Grand Jury was impanelled in 2002-2003 to investigate and make recommendations concerning the Diocesan sexual abuse scandal in Rockville Centre. The Grand Jury issued a report after the presentation by myself and co-counsel in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. The Report describes the history of the sexual abuse problem in the Diocese as well as the ensuing coverup. Many of the recommendations were legislatively adopted in Albany.

Should The Victims' Rights Movement Have Influence Over Criminal Law Formulation And Adjudication?, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

The victims' rights movement has come into increasing influence in setting criminal justice policy. What can be said about where its influence should be heeded, and where it should not? With regard to substantive criminal law in particular, should the victims' rights movement have influence over its formulation and adjudication? The short answer, on which I'll elaborate below, is that it ought to have influence over criminal law formulation but not necessarily over criminal law adjudication. It ought to have influence over criminal law formulation because there is great benefit in formulations that track shared lay intuitions of justice, and …

Casting New Light On An Old Subject: Death Penalty Abolitionism For A New Millennium (Reviewing Austin Sarat, When The State Kills: Capital Punishment And The American Condition (2001))., Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This paper examines recent U.S. efforts to abolish capital punishment, using Austin Sarat's 2001 book "When the State Kills" as the centerpiece of its exploration. The book, rather than mounting a principled "frontal assault" on the death penalty, instead surveys the numerous ways in which capital punishment negatively affects American law, politics, and culture. The paper considers the broader historic significance of this tactical shift and reflects upon the consequences and prospects for its ultimate success.

The Virtues Of Restorative Processes, The Vices Of "Restorative Justice", Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

This conference and symposium are important for their ability to make better known the great benefits in the use of restorative processes. Below I try to summarize some of the many promising achievements of those processes, by which I mean to include such practices as victim-offender mediation, sentencing circles, and family group conferences to name just the most common. While many people refer to such processes by the name "Restorative Justice," that term and its originators in fact have a more ambitious agenda than simply encouraging the use of such restorative processes. But that agenda is not one that the …

Wife Murder In Chicago: 1910-1930, Cynthia Grant Bowman, Ben Altman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Juries, Drug Laws & Sentencing (Symposium), Nancy S. Marder

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Federal Guilty Pleas Under Rule 11: The Unfilled Promise Of The Post-Boykin Era, Julian A. Cook

Scholarly Works

Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure governs perhaps the most essential and common practice in the federal criminal justice system--the guilty plea. Despite the public's focus on the excitement and drama engendered by real and fictional criminal trials, the overwhelming majority of criminal matters reach a negotiated resolution. Indeed, the importance of the guilty plea to the judiciary, prosecutors, and even defense attorneys cannot be overstated. Without guilty pleas, the criminal justice system would malfunction; the system is simply incapable of accommodating the constitutional exercise of a defendant's trial right in each instance.

The federal plea process …

Splitting The Atom Of Marshall's Wisdom, Susan Herman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Criminal Courts And Fair Trials: Difficulties And Prospects, Jacob Katz Cogan

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The question "Can international criminal courts provide defendants with fair trials?" is one that has barely been posed, let alone answered. The realm of international criminal justice is distinguished from domestic criminal justice not simply because accountability and sovereignty weigh heavier in this context, but also because of the absence of an effective counterweight to check these interests. One approach to the fair trial issue focuses on the rights delineated in the tribunals' statutes, rules of procedure and evidence, and case law. A second approach to the problem of fair trials asks, instead, whether these international courts have the independence …

Jimmy Hoffa's Revenge: White-Collar Rights Under The Mcdade Amendment, John G. Douglass

Law Faculty Publications

I begin the Essay with a bit of comparative history. In Part I, I describe the death and burial of the Sixth Amendment no-contact rule espoused by Jimmy Hoffa. In Part II, I contrast the birth and expansion of an extra-constitutional no-contact rule under Model Rule 4.2 and the McDade Amendment. I begin with these contrasting histories because I believe they illustrate two critical points about the no-contact rule in criminal investigations. First, despite its place in codes of ethics, the no-contact rule in criminal investigations has little to do with ethics. Instead, today's debate over Rule 4.2 is simply …

The Impossible Dream Come True: A Criminal Law Professor Becomes Juror #7, Stacy Caplow

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.