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Articles 1 - 29 of 29
Full-Text Articles in Law
Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan
Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan
Seattle University Law Review
The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …
No Child Left Behind Bars: Applying The Principles Of Strict Scrutiny When Sentencing Juveniles Tried As Adults, Max Chu
William & Mary Law Review
The Commonwealth of Virginia was the first in the nation to pass legislation that provides judges with the discretion to veer away from the mandatory minimum sentence and to impose trauma-informed and age-appropriate sentences for juvenile offenders convicted of felonies and tried as adults. Although Virginia’s new law, House Bill 744 (HB 744), is a pioneering step in the right direction, this Note argues that the law may now provide judges with too much discretion. In other words, HB 744 alone, without more guidance, does not go far enough to protect the rights of juvenile offenders.
Therefore, this Note proposes …
Criminal Justice Secrets, Meghan J. Ryan
Criminal Justice Secrets, Meghan J. Ryan
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
The American criminal justice system is cloaked in secrecy. The government employs covert surveillance operations. Grand-jury proceedings are hidden from public view. Prosecutors engage in closed-door plea-bargaining and bury exculpatory evidence. Juries convict defendants on secret evidence. Jury deliberations are a black box. And jails and prisons implement clandestine punishment practices. Although there are some justifications for this secrecy, the ubiquitous nature of it is contrary to this nation’s Founders’ steadfast belief in the transparency of criminal justice proceedings. Further, the pervasiveness of secrecy within today’s criminal justice system raises serious constitutional concerns. The accumulation of secrecy and the aggregation …
Race-Based Remedies In Criminal Law, Ion Meyn
Race-Based Remedies In Criminal Law, Ion Meyn
William & Mary Law Review
This Article evaluates the constitutional feasibility of using race-based remedies to address racial disparities in the criminal system. Compared to white communities, communities of color are over-policed and over-incarcerated. Criminal system stakeholders recognize that these conditions undermine perceptions of legitimacy critical to ensuring public safety. As jurisdictions assiduously attempt race-neutral fixes, they also acknowledge the shortcomings of such interventions. Nevertheless, jurisdictions dismiss the feasibility of deploying more effective race-conscious strategies due to the shadow of a constitutional challenge. The apprehension is understandable. Debates around affirmative action in higher education and government contracting reveal fierce hostility toward race-based remedies.
This Article, …
Pandemic, Protest, And Agency: Jury Service And Equal Protection In A Future Defined By Covid-19, Patrick C. Brayer
Pandemic, Protest, And Agency: Jury Service And Equal Protection In A Future Defined By Covid-19, Patrick C. Brayer
Faculty Works
This essay calls for an expansive view of Fourteenth Amendment equal protection against the discriminatory empanelment of juries grounded upon a culture of systemic racism. For an individual juror fundamental elements of survival during a pandemic are access to health care, safe transportation, and connective technology. Yet, structural and systemic racism precludes many potential jurors of color from securing these necessary supports, thus denying them the ability to be recognized on juror source list or accommodated for jury service. Jury service is a direct and impactful act of citizen agency over the justice system, and the systemic exclusion of individuals …
The Invisible Pillar Of Gideon, Adam M. Gershowitz
The Invisible Pillar Of Gideon, Adam M. Gershowitz
Adam M. Gershowitz
In 1996, the State of South Carolina charged Larry McVay with common-law robbery. McVay, who was employed part-time and took home less than $160 per week after taxes, claimed that after paying his basic living expenses he had no money left with which to hire an attorney. A South Carolina court disagreed and denied McVay’s request for appointed counsel. Seven years later, Scott Peterson was arrested for the murder of his wife and unborn child in California. Although Peterson owned a home, drove an expensive SUV, and was carrying $10,000 in cash when he was captured, he claimed to be …
Prisoner's Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation - A Symposium - Introduction, Donald W. Dowd
Prisoner's Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation - A Symposium - Introduction, Donald W. Dowd
Donald W. Dowd
No abstract provided.
Orange Is The New Equal Protection Violation: How Evidence-Based Sentencing Harms Male Offenders, Shaina D. Massie
Orange Is The New Equal Protection Violation: How Evidence-Based Sentencing Harms Male Offenders, Shaina D. Massie
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan
Trevor J Calligan
No abstract provided.
Procedurally Criminal: How Peremptory Challenges Create Unfair And Unrepresentative Single-Gender Juries, Chelsea V. King
Procedurally Criminal: How Peremptory Challenges Create Unfair And Unrepresentative Single-Gender Juries, Chelsea V. King
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
No abstract provided.
Lawrence As An Eighth Amendment Case: Sodomy And The Evolving Standards Of Decency, Sheldon Bernard Lyke
Lawrence As An Eighth Amendment Case: Sodomy And The Evolving Standards Of Decency, Sheldon Bernard Lyke
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
This Article offers an alternate reading of Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down the Texas sodomy statute that criminalized private, consensual, and adult same-sex intercourse. While most scholars discuss Lawrence as a substantive due process case and struggle to find meaning in the ambiguity of the decision's language, I propose that Lawrence is better read as an Eighth Amendment case. This Article argues that the majority opinion analyzed the constitutionality of the Texas sodomy law as it would analyze the cruelty and unusualness of a criminal law in an Eighth Amendment evolving standards of …
The Invisible Pillar Of Gideon, Adam M. Gershowitz
The Invisible Pillar Of Gideon, Adam M. Gershowitz
Faculty Publications
In 1996, the State of South Carolina charged Larry McVay with common-law robbery. McVay, who was employed part-time and took home less than $160 per week after taxes, claimed that after paying his basic living expenses he had no money left with which to hire an attorney. A South Carolina court disagreed and denied McVay’s request for appointed counsel. Seven years later, Scott Peterson was arrested for the murder of his wife and unborn child in California. Although Peterson owned a home, drove an expensive SUV, and was carrying $10,000 in cash when he was captured, he claimed to be …
Policing And Equal Protection, Lawrence Rosenthal
Policing And Equal Protection, Lawrence Rosenthal
Lawrence Rosenthal
For urban policing, it is the best of times and the worst of times. The innovative and proactive policing techniques that have come into widespread use over the past decade -- sometimes referred to as the "New Policing" -- are credited by many with producing significant reductions in urban crime. The vocal and numerous critics of these tactics, however, claim that the cure has been worse than the disease, by imposing enormous and unwarranted burdens on high crime minority communities where use of these new tactics is concentrated. In this paper, I offer a defense for New Policing as faithful …
Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr.
Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr.
Michigan Law Review
What motivated big changes in constitutional law doctrine during the twentieth century? Rarely did important constitutional doctrine or theory change because of formal amendments to the document's text, and rarer still because scholars or judges "discovered" new information about the Constitution's original meaning. Precedent and common law reasoning were the mechanisms by which changes occurred rather than their driving force. My thesis is that most twentieth century changes in the constitutional protection of individual rights were driven by or in response to the great identity-based social movements ("IBSMs") of the twentieth century. Race, sex, and sexual orientation were markers of …
Constitutional Law - Corrections - Prisoners' Constitutional Right Of Access To Courts Imposes Duty On State To Provide Prison Law Libraries, Amanda M. Shaw
Constitutional Law - Corrections - Prisoners' Constitutional Right Of Access To Courts Imposes Duty On State To Provide Prison Law Libraries, Amanda M. Shaw
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Wealth, Bail, And The Equal Protection Of The Laws, Richard A. Cohen
Wealth, Bail, And The Equal Protection Of The Laws, Richard A. Cohen
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Fuller V. Oregon, Lewis F. Powell Jr.
The Communication Of The Supreme Court's Criminal Procedure Decisions: A Preliminary Mapping, Stephen L. Wasby
The Communication Of The Supreme Court's Criminal Procedure Decisions: A Preliminary Mapping, Stephen L. Wasby
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Courts' Responsibility For Prison Reform, Edmund B. Spaeth Jr.
The Courts' Responsibility For Prison Reform, Edmund B. Spaeth Jr.
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Legal Controversy As It Relates To Correctional Institutions - A Prison Administrator's View, Joseph R. Brierley
The Legal Controversy As It Relates To Correctional Institutions - A Prison Administrator's View, Joseph R. Brierley
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Correctional Institution As A Rehabilitation Center - A Former Inmate's View, Victor Taylor
The Correctional Institution As A Rehabilitation Center - A Former Inmate's View, Victor Taylor
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Prison Reform In The Future - The Trend Toward Expansion Of Prisoners' Rights, Monrad G. Paulsen
Prison Reform In The Future - The Trend Toward Expansion Of Prisoners' Rights, Monrad G. Paulsen
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Expansion Of Prisoners' Rights, Victor Rabinowitz
The Expansion Of Prisoners' Rights, Victor Rabinowitz
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Prisoner's Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation - A Symposium - Introduction, Donald W. Dowd
Prisoner's Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation - A Symposium - Introduction, Donald W. Dowd
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Prisoners' Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation, Joseph R. Brierley, Victor Rabinowitz, Edmund B. Spaeth Jr., James D. Crawford
Prisoners' Rights And The Correctional Scheme: The Legal Controversy And Problems Of Implementation, Joseph R. Brierley, Victor Rabinowitz, Edmund B. Spaeth Jr., James D. Crawford
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Prisoners' Rights - A Prosecutor's View, James D. Crawford
Prisoners' Rights - A Prosecutor's View, James D. Crawford
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.
Assistance In Addition To Counsel For Indigent Defendants: The Need For, The Lack Of, The Right To, Dennis W. Alexander
Assistance In Addition To Counsel For Indigent Defendants: The Need For, The Lack Of, The Right To, Dennis W. Alexander
Villanova Law Review
No abstract provided.