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- Criminal law; criminal ethics; prosecutorial discretion (1)
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- Criminal procedure; electronically stored information; search warrants (1)
- Maritime law; constitutional law; law of the sea (1)
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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Law
Rape Messaging, Alena Allen
Rape Messaging, Alena Allen
Fordham Law Review
When feminists began advocating for rape reform in the 1970s, the rape message was clear: rape was not a crime to be taken seriously because women lie. After decades of criminal law reform, the legal requirement that a woman vigorously resist a man’s sexual advances to prove that she was raped has largely disappeared from the statute books, and, in theory, rape shield laws make a woman’s prior sexual history irrelevant. Yet, despite what the law dictates, rape law reforms have not had a “trickle-down” effect, where changes in law lead to changes in attitude. Women are still believed to …
You Say Intrastate, I Say Interstate: Why We Should Call The Whole Thing Off, Andrew Wiktor
You Say Intrastate, I Say Interstate: Why We Should Call The Whole Thing Off, Andrew Wiktor
Fordham Law Review
As society evolves, so do criminals. In the early twentieth century, America embraced the automobile, passed the Volstead Act, and created a national highway program. These developments inadvertently paved the way for interstate criminal enterprise. Infamous gangsters such as Al Capone were able to operate large-scale racketeering syndicates without fear of being prosecuted for two primary reasons: (1) states lacked jurisdiction, resources, or both to go after such criminals, and (2) there was no federal criminal statute to fill the gap left by the states. But as criminals evolve, so does society. In 1961, Congress, at the urging of Attorney …
Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor?, Ellen Yaroshefsky
Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor?, Ellen Yaroshefsky
Fordham Law Review Online
Most people who become prosecutors are honest and ethical public servants who take that job for varied reasons including protecting the community, assisting victims of crime, gaining trial experience, or enhancing future employment prospects and long-term political goals. Earnest and hard-working, these prosecutors bristle at the very question of whether a good person can be a good prosecutor. The question though is not about a good person and their motives or ethical compass, but about the role: What does it mean to be a good prosecutor especially in the era of mass incarceration?
The Necessity Of The Good Person Prosecutor, Jessica A. Roth
The Necessity Of The Good Person Prosecutor, Jessica A. Roth
Fordham Law Review Online
In a 2001 essay, Professor Abbe Smith asked the question whether a good person—i.e., a person who is committed to social justice—can be a good prosecutor. Although she acknowledged some hope that the answer to her question could be “yes,” Professor Smith concluded that the answer then was “no”—in part because she saw individual prosecutors generally as having very little discretion to “temper the harsh reality of the criminal justice system.” In this Online Symposium revisiting Professor Smith’s question seventeen years later, my answer to her question is “yes”—a good person can be a good prosecutor.
Revisiting Abbe Smith's Question, "Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor?" In The Age Of Krasner And Sessions, Rebecca Roiphe
Revisiting Abbe Smith's Question, "Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor?" In The Age Of Krasner And Sessions, Rebecca Roiphe
Fordham Law Review Online
In an article published over fifteen years ago, Georgetown Law Professor Abbe Smith argued that one cannot be a good person and a good prosecutor. In other words, if you are concerned with social justice, it would be selfdefeating to work in a prosecutor’s office. With Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the helm, the federal criminal justice system has changed since Smith wrote this article, in many ways for the worse. At the same time, in response to a powerful grass roots movement, the reformist approach to criminal justice has gained some ground. In this oddly polarized context, this essay …
A Defender's Take On "Good" Prosecutors, David E. Patton
A Defender's Take On "Good" Prosecutors, David E. Patton
Fordham Law Review Online
When Professor Abbe Smith asked “Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor” in 2001 (and answered it mostly in the negative), she began a conversation that would result in me, a public defender, having to repeatedly answer the question from earnest law students and young lawyers. I haven’t yet forgiven Professor Smith. My first impulse when I’m asked the question is to hand out her home phone number. My second impulse is to answer: “Why are you asking me?” I’m a defense lawyer. Worse still, I am a public defender. I’m not, shall we say, naturally drawn …
Prosecutors Who Police The Police Are Good People, Vida B. Johnson
Prosecutors Who Police The Police Are Good People, Vida B. Johnson
Fordham Law Review Online
In 2001 Professor Abbe Smith asked if a person could be both a good prosecutor and a good person. Her answer was, essentially, “no.” My answer in 2018 is that only a prosecutor who focuses on the powerful, and particularly who is willing to prosecute police who do wrong, can be good.
The Progressive Prosecutor: An Imperative For Criminal Justice Reform, Angela J. Davis
The Progressive Prosecutor: An Imperative For Criminal Justice Reform, Angela J. Davis
Fordham Law Review Online
In a law review article written seventeen years ago, Professor Abbe Smith asked the question, “Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor?” Professor Smith ultimately answered the question in the negative. Whether or not one agreed with her conclusion at the time, today we know that the answer to the question is “Yes.” Anyone who believes that good people cannot be good prosecutors assumes and accepts a model of prosecution based on harsh, punitive policies and practices that incarcerate as many people as possible for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that unjust model of prosecution is the …
Good Person, Good Prosecutor In 2018, Abbe Smith
Good Person, Good Prosecutor In 2018, Abbe Smith
Fordham Law Review Online
Nearly twenty years ago, I wrote an essay on the ethics of prosecution in a time of mass incarceration called “Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor?”1 I am both pleased and perplexed that the essay, which caused some controversy at the time, continues to strike a chord—at least with the organizers of this online conversation. I appreciate the invitation to weigh in on whether you can be a good person and a good prosecutor in 2018.
Foreword: Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor, Bruce A. Green
Foreword: Can A Good Person Be A Good Prosecutor, Bruce A. Green
Fordham Law Review Online
In 2001, Abbe Smith asked provocatively whether you can simultaneously be a good person and a good prosecutor, and she concluded that you cannot. The following online symposium, hosted by the Fordham Law Review Online, revisits Abbe Smith’s question. Even if she was right in 2001, is the answer the same seventeen years later? The problems of criminal justice in this country have in many ways gotten worse. But at the same time, one might argue, there is broader public acknowledgment of these problems, which has led to social movements such as the Innocence Movement and Black Lives Matter that …
Scientific Excellence In The Forensic Science Community, Alice R. Isenberg, Cary T. Oien
Scientific Excellence In The Forensic Science Community, Alice R. Isenberg, Cary T. Oien
Fordham Law Review Online
This Article was prepared as a companion to the Fordham Law Review Reed Symposium on Forensic Expert Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, held on October 27, 2017, at Boston College School of Law. The Symposium took place under the sponsorship of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules. For an overview of the Symposium, see Daniel J. Capra, Foreword: Symposium on Forensic Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, 86 Fordham L. Rev. 1459 (2018).
Scientific Validity And Error Rates: A Short Response To The Pcast Report, Ted Robert Hunt
Scientific Validity And Error Rates: A Short Response To The Pcast Report, Ted Robert Hunt
Fordham Law Review Online
This Article was prepared as a companion to the Fordham Law Review Reed Symposium on Forensic Expert Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, held on October 27, 2017, at Boston College School of Law. The Symposium took place under the sponsorship of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules. For an overview of the Symposium, see Daniel J. Capra, Foreword: Symposium on Forensic Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, 86 Fordham L. Rev. 1459 (2018).
The Reliability Of The Adversarial System To Assess The Scientific Validity Of Forensic Evidence, Andrew D. Goldsmith
The Reliability Of The Adversarial System To Assess The Scientific Validity Of Forensic Evidence, Andrew D. Goldsmith
Fordham Law Review Online
This Article was prepared as a companion to the Fordham Law Review Reed Symposium on Forensic Expert Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, held on October 27, 2017, at Boston College School of Law. The Symposium took place under the sponsorship of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules. For an overview of the Symposium, see Daniel J. Capra, Foreword: Symposium on Forensic Testimony, Daubert, and Rule 702, 86 Fordham L. Rev. 1459 (2018).
Regulating Search Warrant Execution Procedure For Stored Electronic Communications, Sara J. Dennis
Regulating Search Warrant Execution Procedure For Stored Electronic Communications, Sara J. Dennis
Fordham Law Review
Electronic communication services, from email, to social media, tomessaging applications, have not only dramatically changed daily life but have also had a profound impact on criminal investigations and procedure.The often large volume of electronically stored information has led to a two-step process for search warrant execution, codified in Federal Criminal Procedure Rule 41. When conducting a search pursuant to Rule 41, law enforcement often retains both responsive items—materials that fall within the scope of the warrant—and nonresponsive materials—intermingled items that can be searched, but ultimately exceed the scope of the warrant. This possession of nonresponsive material creates a tension between …
Unstitching Scarlet Letters?: Prosecutorial Discretion And Expungement, Brian M. Murray
Unstitching Scarlet Letters?: Prosecutorial Discretion And Expungement, Brian M. Murray
Fordham Law Review
This Article argues that scholarly discussions about prosecutorial discretion need to extend their focus beyond the exercise of prosecutorial judgment pretrial or questions of factual and legal guilt. Given that the primary role of the prosecutoris to do “justice,” this Article calls for increased attention to the exercise of discretion after the guilt phase is complete, specifically in the context of expungement of nonconviction andconviction information. It offers a framework for exercising such discretion and, in doing so, hopes to initiate additional conversation about the role of prosecutors during the phases that follow arrest and prosecution.
Courts Have Gone Overboard In Applying The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, Elaina Aquila
Courts Have Gone Overboard In Applying The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, Elaina Aquila
Fordham Law Review
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), enacted through Congress’s power to “define and punish . . . Felonies Committed on the high Seas,” prosecutes individuals for drug trafficking “on board” vessels. Individuals often raise jurisdictional defenses in U.S. courts when prosecuted under MDLEA, and scholarship in the area argues about whether the Constitution permits MDLEA to reach drug traffickers who are on the high seas. Recently, courts have begun using MDLEA to prosecute foreign nationals located in a foreign nation who are not on board a vessel as conspirators. However, no court has fully examined Congress’s authority to enact …
Implicit Racial Biases In Prosecutorial Summations: Proposing An Integrated Response, Praatika Prasad
Implicit Racial Biases In Prosecutorial Summations: Proposing An Integrated Response, Praatika Prasad
Fordham Law Review
Racial bias has evolved from the explicit racism of the Jim Crow era to amore subtle and difficult-to-detect form: implicit racial bias. Implicit racial biases exist unconsciously and include negative racial stereotypes andassociations. Everyone, including actors in the criminal justice system who believe themselves to be fair, possess these biases. Although inaccessible through introspection, implicit biases can easily be triggered through language. When trials involve Black defendants, prosecutors’ summations increasingly include racial themes that could trigger jurors’ implicit biases, lead to the perpetuation of unfair stereotypes, and contribute to racial injustice and disparate outcomes. This Note examines and critiques the …
The Right To Two Criminal Defense Lawyers, Bruce A. Green
The Right To Two Criminal Defense Lawyers, Bruce A. Green
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.