Law Commons^™

Toward A Better Criminal Legal System: Improving Prisons, Prosecution, And Criminal Defense, David A. Harris, Created And Presented Jointly By Students From State Correctional Institution - Greene, Waynesburg, Pa, And University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law, Chief Editor: David A. Harris

Articles

During the Fall 2023 semester, 15 law (Outside) students from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and 13 incarcerated (Inside) students from the State Correctional Institution – Greene, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, took a full semester class together called Issues in Criminal Justice and Law. The class, occurring each week at the prison, utilized the Inside-Out Prison Exchange pedagogy, and was facilitated by Professor David Harris. Subjects include the purposes of prison, addressing crime, the criminal legal system and race, and issues surrounding victims and survivors of crime. The course culminated in a Group Project; under the heading “improving the …

Exposing Police Misconduct In Pre-Trial Criminal Proceedings, Anjelica Hendricks

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents a unique argument: police misconduct records should be accessible and applicable for pre-trial criminal proceedings. Unfortunately, the existing narrative on the value of police misconduct records is narrow because it exclusively considers how these records can be used to impeach officer credibility at trial. This focus is limiting for several reasons. First, it addresses too few defendants, since fewer than 3% of criminal cases make it to trial. Second, it overlooks misconduct records not directly addressing credibility—such as records demonstrating paperwork deficiencies, failures to appear in court, and “mistakes” that upon examination are patterns of abuse. Finally, …

Flipping The Script On Brady, Ion Meyn

Indiana Law Journal

Brady v. Maryland imposes a disclosure obligation on the prosecutor and, for this

reason, is understood to burden the prosecutor. This Article asks whether Brady also

benefits the prosecutor, and if so, how and to what extent does it accomplish this?

This Article first considers Brady’s structural impact—how the case influenced

broader dynamics of litigation. Before Brady, legislative reform transformed civil

and criminal litigation by providing pretrial information to civil defendants but not

to criminal defendants. Did this disparate treatment comport with due process?

Brady arguably answered this question by brokering a compromise: in exchange for

imposing minor obligations on …

Due Process Court Of Appeals

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Between Brady Discretion And Brady Misconduct, Bennett L. Gershman

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The Supreme Court’s decision in Brady v. Maryland presented prosecutors with new professional challenges. In Brady, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution must provide the defense with any evidence in its possession that could be exculpatory. If the prosecution fails to timely turn over evidence that materially undermines the defendant’s guilt, a reviewing court must grant the defendant a new trial. While determining whether evidence materially undermines a defendant’s guilt may seem like a simple assessment, the real-life application of such a determination can be complicated. The prosecution’s disclosure determination can be complicated under the Brady paradigm because …

Between Brady Discretion And Brady Misconduct, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court’s decision in Brady v. Maryland presented prosecutors with new professional challenges. In Brady, the Supreme Court held that the prosecution must provide the defense with any evidence in its possession that could be exculpatory. If the prosecution fails to timely turn over evidence that materially undermines the defendant’s guilt, a reviewing court must grant the defendant a new trial. While determining whether evidence materially undermines a defendant’s guilt may seem like a simple assessment, the real-life application of such a determination can be complicated. The prosecution’s disclosure determination can be complicated under the Brady paradigm because the …

Prosecutorial Accountability 2.0, Bruce Green, Ellen Yaroshefsky

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article describes the rhetorical and regulatory changes that characterize

the new prosecutorial accountability, identifies the conditions that

have enabled them to occur, and considers their implications. While identifying

various necessary conditions, the Article argues that information technology

has been the essential catalyst; the evolution could not be sustained

without the aggregation, accessibility, and communication of data and commentary

about prosecutorial misconduct that new information technology

makes readily available to the public. Given the permanence of information

technology in modern society, the Article concludes by cautiously predicting

that the contemporary regulatory movement will be sustained; the pendulum

will not swing …

Plea Bargaining And Prosecutorial Motives, Charlie Gerstein

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

This Article argues that the structure of the plea-bargaining system—which the Supreme Court recently recognized “is the criminal justice system”—hinges on something previously unappreciated by scholars and unaddressed in criminal procedure doctrine: prosecutors’ motives. This Article addresses that problem by studying the prosecutor’s disclosure obligations when defendants plead guilty. Courts and commentators have been divided for years over whether Brady v. Maryland applies when defendants plead guilty. But the current split blinds us to more important, and more vexing, aspects of the problem. The fact is, there already is a disclosure obligation, albeit a hidden one. Armed with an …

Ensuring Insurance: Adequate And Appropriate Coverage For Brady Claims In Illinois, Joe Delich

Northwestern University Law Review

The increase in wrongful conviction litigation has engendered a number of new doctrinal problems. This Note examines the existing rules governing insurance coverage for wrongful-conviction-related torts, in particular, due process claims for Brady violations. It then explores the rationale for the continuous trigger doctrine in the asbestos context, and argues that wrongful conviction claims call for a similar approach due to comparable latency concerns. There is a particular focus on Illinois law due to the state’s prevalence of wrongful conviction litigation and recent shifts in the law governing insurance triggers for malicious prosecution.

Supreme Court, Bronx County, People V. Buari, Matthew Moisan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Anti-Justice, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

This Article contends that, despite their unique, ethical duty to “seek justice,” prosecutors regularly fail to fulfill this ethical norm when removed from the traditional, adversarial courtroom setting. Examples abound. For instance, in 2013, Edward Snowden leaked classified information revealing a government-operated surveillance program known as PRISM. That program allows the federal government to collect metadata from phone companies and email accounts and to monitor phone conversations. Until recently, prosecutors relied on some of this covertly acquired intelligence to build criminal cases against American citizens without informing the accused. In failing to notify defendants, prosecutors violated the explicit statutory directives …

Turn-Coat Disclosure: The Importance Of Following Procedure - Turturro V. City Of New York, Brittany A. Fiorenza

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Misconduct In Criminal Cases: It’S Not Just The Counsel Who May Be Ineffective And Unprofessional, Richard Klein

Richard Daniel Klein

No abstract provided.

Academics Making A Difference: Prosecutor Disclosure Obligations In Criminal Cases, Laurel Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Michael T. Judge, Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Always Be Disclosing: The Prosecutor's Constitutional Duty To Divulge Inadmissible Evidence, Brian D. Ginsberg

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Misconduct In Criminal Cases: It’S Not Just The Counsel Who May Be Ineffective And Unprofessional, Richard Klein

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Story Of Brady V. Maryland: From Adversarial Gamesmanship Toward The Search For Innocence?, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter, forthcoming in Criminal Procedure Stories (Carol Steiker ed. forthcoming 2005), explains the story behind Brady v. Maryland and its broader significance in the field of criminal procedure. Brady is unusual among the great landmark criminal procedure decisions of the Warren Court. Brady requires prosecutors to give criminal defendants evidence that tends to negate their guilt or reduce their punishment. In other words, Brady mandates limited discovery instead of trial by ambush. Brady's test turns not on whether the prosecutor misled a jury or acted in good faith, but on whether the evidence is favorable and material to …

Shots Across No Man's Land: A Response To Handgun Control, Inc.'S, Richard Aborn, Nicholas J. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In response to Richard Aborn's article "The Battle Over the Brady Bill and the Future of Gun Control Advocacy, Johnson argues that Aborn's "bad gun formula" trivializes the Second Amendment, ignores issues vital to the gun control debate, and obfuscates what should ultimately need to be a choice between an armed citizenry or a disarmed one. Aborn's article suggests no real changes and does not effectively advance the debate.

The Battle Over The Brady Bill And The Future Of Gun Control Advocacy, Richard M. Aborn

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No matter how effective a legislative scheme is, legislation alone will not eradicate the deeply rooted culture of gun violence that exists in this country. Accordingly, Handgun Control divides its efforts between legislative and non-legislative efforts. In this regard, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence carries out the non-legislative interventions of Handgun Control. These efforts include working with elementary, secondary and high schools to promote a gun violence reduction curriculum; litigating on behalf of gun victims; defending gun control legislation in the courts; working with the entertainment industry concerning the messages in popular entertainment about gun violence; and working with …