Law Commons^™

Civil And Criminal Contempt In Indiana, Robert Brown

Dr Robert Brown

No abstract provided.

Wrongful Conviction, Daniel Medwed, Helen Borton

Daniel S. Medwed

No abstract provided.

Justice In New England, Daniel Medwed

Daniel S. Medwed

No abstract provided.

New Data And New Questions: Trac's Contribution To Federal Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Beyond Practical Skills: Nine Steps For Improving Legal Education Now, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

It has been five years since the Carnegie Report “Educating Lawyers” called upon law schools to adopt an integrated approach to professional education that teaches practical skills and professionalism across the curriculum. Yet so far, very few schools have responded to this clarion call for wholesale curricular reform. Considering the inertial effect of traditional law school pedagogy and the institutional impediments to change, this delay is not surprising. A fully integrated approach to teaching professional skills (such as the medical school model) would require major resource reallocations, realignment of teaching responsibilities, redesign of courses, and a change to graduation requirements. …

When The Cheering (For Gideon ) Stops: The Defense Bar And Representation At Initial Bail Hearings, Douglas Colbert

Douglas L. Colbert

This article suggests that the absence of representation at the beginning of a State criminal prosecution must come to a screeching halt. The criminal defense bar should take a leadership role and dedicate Gideon's anniversary to making certain that an accused's right to the effective assistance of counsel begins at the initial bail hearing. Indeed, guaranteeing vigorous representation should be the defense bar's number one priority.

Emotionally Charged: The Prosecutorial Charging Decision And The Innocence Revolution, Daniel Medwed

Daniel S. Medwed

Efforts to rectify wrongful convictions in the United States arguably represent a new civil rights movement for the twentieth-first century. Since 1989, post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated over two hundred inmates, their innocence proven beyond a shadow of a doubt through science, and at least three hundred other innocent prisoners have gained their freedom in cases lacking the magic bullet of DNA. Studies of these cases reveal that specific factors tend to cause wrongful convictions in the first place. Misbehavior by prosecutors - especially involving the suppression of exculpatory evidence - has emerged as one of those factors. This Symposium …

The Zeal Deal: Prosecutorial Resistance To Post-Conviction Claims Of Innocence, Daniel Medwed

Daniel S. Medwed

This Article analyzes the institutional and political factors deterring prosecutors from accepting the possible legitimacy of post-conviction innocence claims and formulating creative responses to them. Specifically, the institutional culture of most prosecutors' offices treasures convictions; an attorney's conviction rate may serve as a barometer of that person's stature within the organization and a key factor in determining that person's chances for internal advancement. This professional incentive for prosecutors to obtain and maintain convictions may be bolstered by profound psychological and personal bases for believing in the soundness of the verdicts and pragmatic reasons for discounting the possibility that there may …

Not Guilty: Are The Acquitted Innocent?, Daniel Givelber, Amy Farrell

Amy Farrell

No abstract provided.

The Model Penal Code’S Wrong Turn: Renunciation As A Defense To Criminal Conspiracy, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

While the Model Penal Code was certainly one the most influential developments in criminal law in the past century, the American Law Institute (ALI) took a seriously wrong turn by recognizing a defense of “renunciation” to the crime of conspiracy. Under the Model Penal Code formulation, a member of a conspiracy who later disavows the agreement and thwarts its objective (for example, by notifying authorities of the planned crime in order to prevent its completion) is afforded a complete defense to conspiracy liability. This defense has enormous implications for crimes involving national security and terrorism, which are typically planned covertly …

Liberation Reconsidered: Understanding Why Judges And Juries Disagree About Guilt, Amy Farrell, Daniel Givelber

Daniel J. Givelber

Data collected in four jurisdictions by the National Center for State Courts allows us to examine the question of judge and jury disagreement about guilt through a consideration of the views of jurors as well as judges. Using this data, we test in a modern context the hypothesis that the jury's embrace of values -- as opposed to its different assessment of the evidence -- explains why juries acquit when judges would convict. We find that legal and extralegal factors affect both judge and jury decisions about guilt, that both sets of factors predict disagreement in different contexts, and the …

Not Guilty: Are The Acquitted Innocent?, Daniel Givelber, Amy Farrell

Daniel J. Givelber

No abstract provided.

Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem And The Brady Safety-Valve, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

If any number of attorneys were asked in 2004 whether Lea Fastow’s plea bargain in the Enron case was constitutional, the majority would respond with a simple word – Brady. Yet while the 1970 Supreme Court decision Brady v. United States authorized plea bargaining as a form of American justice, the case also contained a vital caveat that has been largely overlooked by scholars, practitioners, and courts for almost forty years. Brady contains a safety-valve that caps the amount of pressure that may be asserted against defendants by prohibiting prosecutors from offering incentives in return for guilty pleas that are …

Robinson V. California: From Revolutionary Constitutional Doctrine To Model Ban On Status Crimes, Erik Luna

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

The Prosecutor In Transnational Perspective, Erik Luna, Marianne Wade

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

How The Internet Is Used To Facilitate The Trafficking Of Humans As Sex Slaves, Cheryl George

Cheryl Page

No abstract provided.

Hearing On Stolen Or Counterfeit Goods Legislation, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

On March 28, 2012, Professor Dervan was called to testify before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security (Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives) and offer his thoughts regarding proposed counterfeit goods legislation (The Safe Doses Act (H.R. 4223) and the Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act of 2011 (H.R. 3668)). In his prepared statement, Professor Dervan examines the phenomenon of overcriminalization, the collapse of mens rea, the true impact of increased statutory maximums, plea bargaining, and the continued deterioration of our constitutionally protected right to trial by jury. His closing remarks to the Committee offer a poignant critique of …

From Politics To Law, To Tedium, And Back, Mark Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

No abstract provided.

No Walk In The Dog Park: Drafting Animal Cruelty Statutes To Resolve Double Jeopardy Concerns And Eliminate Unfettered Prosecutorial Discretion, Laurie Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

This article evaluates animal abuse and cruelty laws throughout the United States. It demonstrates that, although an emerging trend treats animals more like humans and less like property in some criminal cases and statutes, the laws of many states still adhere to the traditional view of animals as property, causing unique charging and sentencing issues that must be clarified in order to bring predictability and consistency to the law.

In the article, Professor Serafino explores the option of creating a new paradigm in this area, in which animals are treated as a hybrid category of "living property," "legal personhood," or …

Life Cycles Of American Legal History Through Bob Dylan's Eyes, Laurie Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

This article discusses how America's passage through cycles of change that correlate to patterns of discrimination and revolution, as illustrated in the lyrics of Bob Dylan, is represented in American law. It examines, from a legal perspective, Bob Dylan's ideas on social policy and change, and identifies periods in American history during which the nation was "put on the cross, died, and was resurrected."

This examination emphasizes certain key players in U.S. history, who were admired by Dylan for being honorable and fair, standing up for the underdog, and fighting hard against their enemies. These key players include Thaddeus Stevens, …

Prosecution Complex: America's Race To Convict And Its Impact On The Innocent, Daniel Medwed

Daniel S. Medwed

This book explores how American prosecutors can inadvertently make decisions that contribute to the conviction of the innocent largely because of cognitive biases and an overly-deferential regime of legal and ethical rules. Divided into three parts that correspond to the three chief phases of the litigation process (pretrial, trial, and post-conviction), the book examines how mistakes at various moments over the course of a case, even seemingly innocuous missteps, can lead to wrongful convictions and prolong the incarceration of the innocent. Prosecution Complex is not intended to portray prosecutors as rogue officials indifferent to the conviction of the innocent, but …

How To Argue About Prostitution, Michelle Dempsey

Michelle Madden Dempsey

This article provides a comparative analysis of various methodologies employed in building arguments regarding prostitution law and policy, and reflects on the proper aims of legal philosophy more generally. Taking Peter de Marneffe’s Liberalism and Prostitution (OUP 2010) as a launching point for these reflections, the article offers a mostly favourable review of the book as a whole, and defends the philosophical enterprise as one (amongst other) valuable ways to argue about prostitution.

Klostergericht Und-Kerker. Der "Criminalprocess Der Franciskaner", Ulrich Lehner

Ulrich L. Lehner

No abstract provided.

Sex Trafficking And Worker Justice, Michelle Dempsey

Michelle Madden Dempsey

This essay argues that the dualistic conception of work in Catholic social teaching – most notably in John Paul II’s Laborem Excerens – may provide a bridge between otherwise deeply divided views regarding how to conceptualize and define sex trafficking.

Global Bribery: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

Written for a European publication focusing on internal investigations, this piece seeks to introduce the reader to the fundamental elements of the American FCPA, including discussion of available defenses under the statute. Further, this piece discusses some of the collateral considerations that must be made during the investigation of an FCPA matter, particularly given the existence of overlapping anti-bribery provisions in various countries throughout the world and the likelihood of concurrent parallel proceedings both in the United States and abroad during the pendency of any international bribery matter. Finally, this piece offers some thoughts regarding FCPA compliance programs.

The Future Of International Criminal Law And Transitional Justice,, Mark Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

No abstract provided.