Law Commons^™

Death Penalty, Josh D. Moore

Mercer Law Review

The Georgia Supreme Court addressed two death sentences on direct appeal in this survey period, affirming both of them, and addressed four more death penalty cases at various stages of collateral review, leaving death sentences intact in all but one case. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel frequently dominated the court's discussion of these cases, playing a central role in all but two of them. The court, however, also addressed some important issues touching on mental-health evaluations and evidence, lethal injection, death qualification, and victim-impact testimony

Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Charles E. Cox Jr.

Mercer Law Review

Each year the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issue numerous decisions concerning the rights afforded to criminal defendants by the United States Constitution. This Article surveys selected Eleventh Circuit and Supreme Court decisions issued in 2013 that will likely be of interest to criminal law practitioners.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Rosemary Cakmis

Mercer Law Review

In recent years, the United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG, or the Guidelines) for offenses involving drugs, immigration, fraud and theft, and firearms have consistently been applied more frequently at federal sentencings than any other primary offense guidelines. The Guidelines allow for consequential enhancements, many related to victims and criminal history. These Guidelines, especially the enhancements, dominated the precedential guideline decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 2013. This Article focuses on the recurring issues in those decisions.

Permissive Discrimination: How Committing A Crime Makes You A Criminal In Georgia, Luke Caselman

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Suspects Beware: Silence In Response To Police Questioning Could Prove As Fatal As A Confession, Larissa L. Ollivierre

Mercer Law Review

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution' provides that "[nlo person shall be . . . compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."' The Fifth Amendment guarantees a right against government-compelled self-incrimination. A person may invoke the right against self-incrimination when he believes he is being forced by a government official to implicate himself in any crime, and his belief is reasonable considering his situation. If his belief is reasonable, he is not required to answer the incriminating question, and he cannot be punished for refusing to answer.

The right to remain silent, as declared …

Cold Comfort Food: A Systematic Examination Of The Rituals And Rights Of The Last Meal, Sarah Gerwig-Moore

Articles

Last meals are a resilient ritual accompanying executions in the United States. Yet states vary considerably in the ways they administer last meals. This paper explores the recent decision in Texas to abolish the tradition altogether. It seeks to understand, through consultation of historical and contemporary sources, what the ritual signifies. We then go on to analyze execution procedures in all 35 of the states that allowed executions in 2010, and show that last meal allowances are paradoxically at their most expansive in states traditionally associated with high rates of capital punishment (Texas now being the exception to that rule.) …