Law Commons^™

How Justice Holmes Turned Conspirators Into Partners, Daniel Harris

William & Mary Business Law Review

A fundamental precept of the law of conspiracy is that all members of a conspiracy are partners in crime. This precept is the rationale for many doctrines of conspiracy law, including the controversial judge-made rule that all members of a conspiracy are vicariously guilty of substantive crimes foreseeably committed by one member of the conspiracy even if the other members did not commit the substantive offense, intend the offense, or aid or abet its commission. Why does the law impose partnership status and vicarious guilt on lower-level members of a conspiracy who have no ownership stake in the business and …

From Theory To Practice: A True-Crime Podcast, Lauren V. Peckham

Senior Honors Projects

The Criminal Element is an innovative, victim-centered podcast that bridges the gap between criminological theory and real-world criminal cases. The podcast is designed as an educational resource for undergraduate Criminology and Criminal Justice students, alongside general audience members interested in learning more about criminological theory. Through the lens of true crime, this podcast is an engaging exploration of foundational and advanced theories while avoiding sensationalism and exploitation, a prevalent problem among true crime media. Each episode connects criminological theoretical concepts – such as strain, social learning, and social disorganization – to contemporary and historical cases, providing listeners with accessible and …

The Lao Penal Code: A Comparative Discourse, Wing Cheong Chan, Wing Cheong Chan, Phanthasak Mingnakhone, Perrine Simon, Stanley Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This book comprises a commentary on the criminal law of Laos dealing with the general principles of criminal responsibility, and describing the main offences against the person and property under the Lao Penal Code 2017.

Riding On Horseback To The Moon: Consent Searches In The Age Of Smartphones And Digital Tracking, Jonathan Kerr

Washington and Lee Law Review

In 2014, when the Supreme Court ruled in Riley v. California that police must get a warrant before conducting a search of a cell phone, Chief Justice John Roberts described comparing a search of data on a cell phone to a search of other physical items as “like saying a ride on horseback is materially indistinguishable from a flight to the moon.” A decade later, an overwhelming majority of Americans carry cell phones that contain an ever-expanding set of data showing their habits, routines, and the minutiae of their everyday lives, offering a potential wealth of information to law enforcement …

Independent Justice? U.S. Attorneys As A Case Study Of Political Appointments, Jennifer L. Selin, Lauren Mattioli

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Concerns over presidential use of federal prosecution as a political weapon and the overall independence of the Department of Justice have increased in recent years. While most scholarship exploring the potential for political prosecution has focused on the legal and political forces that influence prosecutorial discretion, few studies have identified the varying ways that federal prosecutors obtain their jobs or how those processes affect who serves as U.S. Attorney. This is a consequential oversight, as U.S. Attorney appointments provide an informative case study of the legal frameworks, historical conventions, and politics that influence presidential appointments more generally.

In this Article, …

Understanding Brady Violations, Jennifer M. Mcaward

Vanderbilt Law Review

This largest-ever study of adjudicated violations of Brady v. Maryland provides a detailed and nuanced understanding of who suppresses material evidence in criminal cases, as well as why, how, where, and how often. Its findings complicate the conventional wisdom that Brady violations are the work of nefarious prosecutors who intentionally withhold material evidence from criminal defendants. While it is true that “bad faith” permeates this area of constitutional noncompliance, a substantial minority of Brady cases stem from “good faith” errors by prosecutors and suppression by law enforcement officers. Mostviolations occur in a small number of states, and most often, state …

U.S. Territories And The Criminal Law Curriculum, Emmanuel Hiram Arnaud

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I make a case for why issues concerning the territories should be taught in law school courses and suggest a few ways in which federal criminal adjudication in the territories can and should be incorporated into the criminal law and procedure curriculum.¹⁰ As I advance elsewhere,¹¹ criminal adjudication in the territories functions differently than in the mainland United States.¹² Using the framework of what I call the “territorial criminal legal system,” I have begun mapping the contours of the unique prosecutorial ecosystem produced by the territorial condition.¹³ Chief among the characteristics is the …

Constitutional Failure, Erwin Chemerinsky

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Constitution of the War on Drugs. By David Pozen.

Conservative Caution V. Progressive Originalism: How Justices Barrett And Jackson Are Paving Their Own Paths On The Court, David Rudenstine, Michael Waldman, Eric Freedman, Haiyun Damon-Feng, William D. Araiza, Mark Anthony Frassetto, Jake Meiseles, Michael Pollack, Linda Greenhouse, Earl M. Maltz

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The Conservative Caution v. Progressive Originalism symposium, hosted by the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice on March 7, 2025, brings together leading constitutional scholars to examine the emerging judicial philosophies of Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Through three expert panels—presidential immunity, gun rights, and judicial ideology—the symposium analyzes how both Justices are shaping contemporary originalist discourse from opposing ends of the ideological spectrum. Panelists explore the Supreme Court’s watershed decision in Trump v. United States (2024), emphasizing its unprecedented expansion of presidential immunity and its implications for separation of powers and democratic accountability. Discussions …

From Hanging To Nitrogen Hypoxia: The Evolution Of Execution And The Case For American Abolition, Anna Kuhlman

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

The death penalty has been a dark fixture in societal punishment for most of human history. It has allowed for grisly, violent executions of people found guilty of misconduct relative to the culture they live in. “The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century BCE in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes.” The first death sentence on record was a member of nobility in 16th-century BCE Egypt, where the wrongdoer was accused of magic and ordered to commit suicide. In the seventh century B.C.E., …

An Expert Is Just Some Guy From Out Of Town: Analyzing The Neoliberal Evolution Of Expert Witness Testimony In Criminal Law, Alyssa G. Harrison

University of Richmond Law Review

Expert witness testimony plays an outsized role in American law. Called upon to explain medical or scientific terms to less-knowledgeable peers, an expert can be a powerful tool, offering an authoritative perspective on specialized aspects of a case. The legal community grants experts this authority based on their alleged knowledge—within the legal sphere, science is “idealiz[ed],” and those with the “right” education or credentials are seen as more credible than those without. Despite this, legal professionals are known to “embrace expert evidence when it is misleading and un- helpful.” The expert witness tool, however, is too often denied to those …

The Truth Should Set You Free: The Case For Removing State Knowledge Requirements From False Testimony Standards, Alexa Pietrowsk

Cardozo Law Review

False testimony claims are an increasinglypopular vehicle in a handful ofstates through which petitioners can challenge unconstitutional criminal convictions. Successful false testimony claims grant petitioners access to remedies guaranteed by the Due Process Clause and overturn offending convictions, giving individuals access to new trials or similar relief But like many post-conviction standards, false testimony is evaluated differently from state to state, producing disparate results. While every state's standard requires that the testimony used at trial be proven both false and material to the petitioner's conviction, states diverge as to whether petitioners must show that a state actor-usually prosecutors or police-knew …

Mobile Hyflex, Mairéad Seymour

Case studies: Digital Education

I utilised the mobile hyflex technology with a group of taught postgraduate students attending a 2 hour research methods lecture. Students were required to complete preparatory work in advance which formed the basis of group discussion and group tasks. Sessions were divided between lecture delivery, individual exercises and small group discussion or group tasks. I delivered a hybrid approach using the mobile technology provided by the NTUTORR initiative and the virtual classroom function in Brightspace.

Prosecuting Police, Guyora Binder, Anthony O'Rourke, Rick Su

Journal Articles

Prosecutors face criticism for prosecuting too many minority members and too few police. Recently, some reformers have won prosecutorial elections by pledging to change these priorities. Yet scholars have identified two impediments to police prosecutions. First, county prosecutors often answer to suburban voters indifferent to the excesses of city police. Second, prosecutors depend on those police to investigate their cases and to endorse them as effective. This Article argues that the influence of residents and police on prosecutorial decisions depends on the political geography of a prosecutor’s office. As a result, whether a prosecutor’s office is “city-based,” “regional,” or “state-appointed” …

Quo Vadis Hak Atas Kesehatan Reproduksi: Analisis Rekonstruksi Pengaturan Aborsi Di Indonesia (Perbandingan Hukum Indonesia Dengan Perancis), Dian Kencana Putri, Erna Dyah Kusumawati

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Pembatasan akses aborsi di Indonesia menyebabkan banyak perempuan dengan kehamilan tidak diinginkan terpaksa berhadapan dengan hukum. Pembatasan aborsi yang mengakibatkan kriminalisasi ini dapat menyebabkan dilema moral bagi banyak perempuan yang mengalami kehamilan tidak diinginkan. Padahal aborsi berpotensi terjadi pada setiap perempuan berusia produktif di Indonesia. Aborsi di Indonesia merupakan tindakan ilegal dan aborsi hanya dapat dilakukan dalam dua kondisi saja, yakni kedaruratan medis dan kehamilan yang disebabkan perkosaan. Artikel ini menganalisa bagaimana sebenarnya substansi aborsi dapat dimasukkan pada kategori hak kesehatan reproduksi perempuan dan mengapa negara Indonesia perlu mengubah kebijakan dan hukum mengenai aborsi. Untuk melihat seberapa pentingnya negara harus …

Law School News: Champions For Justice: Celebrating Alumni Leaders In Legal Advocacy And Social Impact 03-31-2025, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Konstitusionalitas Model Putusan Bawaslu Dalam Penyelesaian Pelanggaran Administratif Pemilu, Muhammad Rifai Yusuf, Syarif Hidayat

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

As one of the institutions that carries out quasi-judicial functions in the field of general elections, Bawaslu could issue a decision through an adjudication process. In 2017, Bawaslu was criticized for its several decisions in the Sipol case held by the KPU for the registration of participants in the 2019 general elections, mainly because it was considered that Bawaslu equated its position with the Supreme Court by assessing that Sipol in the KPU Regulation was not in line with the Election Law. In 2024, decisions on election administrative violations appear to be softer or seem to avoid the same potential …

Rekontruksi Sistem Pertanggungjawaban Pidana Korporasi Atas Kejahatan Terhadap Lingkungan Hidup Perspektif Hukum Progresif, Mochammad Rafi Pravifjayanto

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The environment as a place for humans to live certainly needs to be preserved and protected for its existence. In the context of statehood, the Indonesian Constitution guarantees the constitutional right of citizens to a clean environment. Thus, regulations as the face of the Indonesian constitution must not contradict the constitution. Juridically, Indonesia regulates life protection in Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning the Protection of Environmental Management. However, in its implementation, there are many violations of environmental management which in fact are carried out by corporations to obtain economic benefits. This study aims to analyze the corporate criminal responsibility …

Orientasi Rigid Dan Moderat Dalam Penafsiran Original Intent Dan Praktiknya Di Indonesia, Muhammad Alwi Khoiri Ramdani, Susi Dwi Harijanto, Lailani Sungkar

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Metode original intent lazimnya menghasilkan penafsiran yang bersifat rigid sesuai niat perumusnya. Selama konstitusi tidak diubah, maka tafsiran original intent pun tidak berubah. Namun penggunaan metode penafsiran original intent di Indonesia dapat menghasilkan pemaknaan yang berbeda/berubah meskipun ketentuan konstitusi dan perumusnya tidak berganti. Hal ini terjadi karena terdapat perkembangan pemikiran dalam penerapan metode penafsiran original intent. Penelitian ini membahas mengenai perkembangan pemikiran tersebut dan menganalisa pola penerapan metode original intent dalam penafsiran konstitusi yang dilakukan oleh Mahkamah Konstitusi di Indonesia. Ini merupakan penelitian doktriner dengan pendekatan konsep dan kasus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perkembangan pemikiran dalam penerapan metode penafsiran …

Keith Allen Harward's Wrongful Conviction, Matthias Pearce

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Keith Allen Harward served 33 years in prison in Virginia for a rape and murder (The Innocence Project, 2025). The main evidence for his conviction was bite marks found on the rape victim’s legs. Someone broke into a house and murdered a man and raped the man’s wife. The rape victim described the man who had assaulted her, saying he was wearing a sailor’s outfit. A shipyard security guard nearby reported a man in a blood-spattered E-3 sailor’s uniform. Dental records of all E-3s were obtained and tested, and Harward was identified as the assailant (Keith Allen HARWARD v. COMMONWEALTH …

Attorney Perceptions Of Plea-Bargaining, Sarah K. Edelen

Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how criminal prosecutors and defense attorneys describe the negotiation process of plea-bargains, and the roles and discretion they exercise during it. Additionally, plea-bargaining is not well understood by many members of the public, so this research allows the public to gain insight and knowledge into the process. This study consisted of in-depth, qualitative interviews with both prosecutors and defense attorneys. The results of the study were analyzed through a content analysis. Overall, it was found that the way the plea-bargaining process is described through the existing literature differs …

Saving Private Unfaithful: An Argument For Administrative Separation And Action In Lieu Of Criminalizing Extramarital Sexual Conduct, Annelise Burgess

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In order to keep America’s armed forces deadly, ESC must be decriminalized. The MCM’s 2019 update to start including non-heterosexual marriages and affairs tragically expands the reach of ESC. This Note presents new data on charging patterns of ESC in the Marines, highlighting the crime’s active use. ESC continues to overcompensate for behavior prejudicial to good order and discipline or service discrediting; this overcompensation results in subjecting non-prejudicial and non-service-discrediting behavior to criminal action, simultaneously infringing on service members’ constitutional rights and serving as fodder for public outcry. Military leaders should decriminalize ESC and alternatively penalize the behavior by administrative …

State V. Grant: Is Intent An Essential Element Of Criminal Attempt In Maine?, Bethanne Lyons Poliquin

Maine Law Review

Criminal attempt is a conceptually difficult area of the criminal law. Efforts to develop a judicial and statutory framework for the imposition of criminal attempt liability have resulted in analytical difficulties from which sound policy has not emerged. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has recently encountered this problem in State v. Grant. Liability for criminal attempt has traditionally been limited to those situations in which the actor is shown to have had the specific intent to engage in conduct that constituted a substantial step toward the commission of the substantive crime. Because of this requirement, courts have reasoned that criminal …

Criminal Contempt In Maine: Constitutionally Protected Or Neglected?, Christopher D. Hardy

Maine Law Review

The power to punish contempt of court is an ancient power justified as inherent and necessary for the effective administration of justice. Because criminal contempts are willful challenges to the power of a court to maintain control over its proceedings, contempts are acts which serve to lessen the dignity and authority of the court. Certainly, the maintenance of decorum in the courtrooms is of paramount importance. Absent the ability to sanction willful disobedience, a court is powerless to enforce its decrees or control its proceedings. Yet it is a power readily open to abuse; application of this power must be …

Presumptions Against Criminal Defendants, Affirmative Defenses, And A Substantive Due Process Interpretation Of County Court Of Ulster V. Allen, John C. Sheldon

Maine Law Review

In County Court of Ulster County v. Allen, the Supreme Court stated: "inferences and presumptions are a staple of our adversary system of factfinding." Because Allen concerned the constitutionality of the use against criminal defendants of such deductive devices as statutory inferences and presumptions, it appeared that the decision would ultimately favor their unrestricted use in criminal cases by the prosecution. Further, that expectation was buttressed by the ruling in Patterson v. New York, in which the Court awarded constitutional sanction to state use of affirmative defenses against criminal defendants. These facts suggested that the Court would refrain from imposing …

Is There A Relationship Between Drug Addiction And Incarceration?, Lindsey M. Lopez

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

The connection between drug addiction and incarceration has been widely debated. Many individuals who struggle with substance abuse will end up in the criminal justice system, mainly due to drug-related crimes or offenses committed under the influence like DUI’s. This study examines whether incarceration is effective in solving substance abuse issues or if alternative approaches such as rehabilitation, offer better results. The analysis explores the balance between punishment and treatment programs to determine what the most effective strategy is in reducing recidivism and addressing why drug addiction is high in the justice system.

Get Your Act Together: The Alternative Fines Act In Federal Prosecutions Of Corporate Environmental Crimes, Josiah B. Harmar

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Occupy, Nicholas Marti

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

No abstract provided.

Rise Re-Entry Program, Rise Artists

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

No abstract provided.

Airport Milk Justice, Elsbeth Magilton

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

This creative and personal Essay explores the complex and often overlooked experience of a new working mother. Through a series of personal stories featuring airports and security personnel, this author navigates the struggles and lack of support from society for breastfeeding on-the-go. Ultimately, the author was able to use these personal experiences and turn them into a positive advocacy mission for herself and for other working mothers across the United States by finding solutions and reaching out to airport regulators. This piece highlights candidly the intersection between motherhood and the professional world by illustrating the difficulties and evolving expectations for …