Law Commons^™

Book Review Of Gregory M. Matoesian, Reproducing Rape, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Challenging Public Investigative Reports: How To Fight The Hearsay Exception, Steven P. Grossman, Stephen J. Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses how attorneys can argue against having government and public reports admitted into evidence at trial that would be damaging to their client. When this paper was done, such reports were admitted via Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C). The authors argue that it is possible to challenge admission of factual findings in public reports despite various court decisions which make this difficult.

The Admission Of Government Fact Findings Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 803(8)(C): Limiting The Dangers Of Unreliable Hearsay, Steven P. Grossman, Stephen J. Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C), an exception to the rule against admission of hearsay, permits introduction of public records or reports containing the fact findings of the reporter without requiring the reporter to appear at trial. These fact findings can be based upon the reporter's own observations and calculations or information imparted to the reporter from sources having no connection to any public agency whatsoever. Rule 803(8)(C) has also been used as the vehicle for presenting juries with fact findings from hearings conducted by public officials. The rule would seem to allow these fact findings even though the opponent had …

The Doctrine Of Inevitable Discovery: A Plea For Reasonable Limitations, Steven P. Grossman

All Faculty Scholarship

In reinstating the Iowa murder conviction of Robert Williams, the Supreme Court accepted explicitly for the first time the doctrine of inevitable discovery. Applied for some time by state and federal courts, the doctrine of inevitable discovery is a means by which evidence obtained illegally can still be admitted against defendants in criminal cases. Unfortunately, the Court chose to adopt the doctrine without any of the safeguards necessary to insure that the deterrent impact of the exclusionary rule would be preserved, and in a form that is subject to and almost invites abuse.

This article warns of the danger to …

Legality And Discretion In The Distribution Of Criminal Sanctions, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

The judicial system now responds to criminal conduct in two rather divergent steps. A judge or jury first determines if a defendant should be held liable for a criminal offense. If so, then the judge or jury goes on to choose a penalty. Precise rules, designed to ensure fairness and predictability, govern the first stage, liability assignment. In the second stage, sentencing, however, judges and juries exercise broad discretion in meting out sanctions. In this Article, Professor Robinson argues that both liability assignment and sentencing are part of a single process of punishing criminal behavior and should be made more …

The Right To Counsel Under Attack, David Rudovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Sentencing System For The 21st Century?, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 created the United States Sentencing Commission and directed it to devise sentencing guidelines for the federal criminal justice system. The Commission recently fulfilled this mandate, promulgating a final set of rules, which took effect November 1. Commissioner Robinson, in filing the lone dissent to these guidelines, argued that they neither meet the expectations of the Act nor provide a comprehensive and workable system. In this Article, Commissioner Robinson discusses the necessary components of a modern, principled, and workable system. He first identifies an ideal system by describing its primary goals and by offering the …

Dissenting View Of Commissioner Paul H. Robinson To The Proposed Sentencing Guidelines For United State Courts, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

I believe the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which created the United States Sentencing Commission, contains two main directives. First, the Commission's guidelines must provide a rational and principled sentencing system that will further the purposes of just punishment and crime control. Second, the guidelines must reduce unwarranted disparity among sentences for similar offenders who commit similar offenses. The Act provides that this is to be achieved through the Commission's promulgation of a comprehensive sentencing system that will bind all federal judges. I opposed the Commission's Preliminary Draft of September, 1986, because I saw it as lacking both guiding principles …

Hybrid Principles For The Distribution Of Criminal Sanctions, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

Most criminal codes, and most criminal law courses, begin with the 'familiar litany' of the purposes of criminal law sanctions - just punishment, deterrence, incapacitation of the dangerous, and rehabilitation. We train and direct our lawyers, judges, and legislators to use these purposes as guiding principles for the distribution of criminal sanctions. The purposes are thus to guide both the drafting and interpretation of criminal statutes and the imposition of criminal sentences in individual cases. The purposes frequently conflict, however, as part I will demonstrate. Conflicts arise because each purpose requires consideration of different criteria; in some cases, a particular …

Criminal Justice Issues In Revolutionary Nicaragua, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article, the author discusses his experiences traveling to Nicaragua in May 1985, as a part of a group of American lawyers and law professors invited by the Nicaraguan Association of Democratic Justice to consult on the judicial process, as well as a revolutionary struggle within the Nicaraguan institutions responsible for criminal justice. This article addresses current criminal procedure, special tribunals, and popular anti-Somocista tribunals. It also discusses a pilot project geared to improve criminal justice issues in Nicaragua.

Excusing The Crazy: The Insanity Defense Reconsidered, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Justice, Mercy, And Craziness, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Judge Friendly's Contributions To Securities Law And Criminal Procedure: "Moderation Is All", Frank Goodman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Imputed Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

Typically, the set of elements defining a crime comprise what may be called the paradigm of liability for that offense: An actor is criminally liable if and only if the state proves all these elements. The paradigm of an offense, however, does not always determine criminal liability. Even where all the elements of the paradigm are proven, rules and doctrines create exceptions that affect criminal liability. Some exceptions, such as insanity, duress, and law enforcement authority, can exculpate an actor even though his conduct and state of mind satisfy the paradigm for the offense charged. Such exculpating exceptions are grouped …

Element Analysis In Defining Criminal Liability: The Model Penal Code And Beyond, Paul H. Robinson, Jane A. Grall

All Faculty Scholarship

The pursuit of fairness and effectiveness has inspired and guided criminal code reformers of the past two decades. Because penal law protects the most important societal interests and authorizes the most serious sanctions the government may impose - the stigma of conviction, imprisonment, and even death - a criminal code, more than any other body of law, should be rational, clear, and internally consistent. Only a precise, principled code that sufficiently defines forbidden conduct can achieve its goals of condemnation and deterrence. Such a code gives citizens fair warning of what will constitute a crime, limits governmental discretion in determining …

Failed Explanations And Criminal Responsibility: Experts And The Unconscious, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutionalizing Forfeiture Law—The German Example, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

This article demonstrates how German criminal law has made forfeiture of objects used in crime consistent with constitutional guarantees.

An Historical Perspective On The Attorney-Client Privilege, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bane Of American Forfeiture Law—Banished At Last?, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

This article refutes the claimed historical bases for criminal law in rem forfeiture.

Survey Of Criminal Procedure — Alternative Dispositions Of Defendants, Charles Shafer

All Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system provides various alternatives for the disposition of criminal defendants. Three of these alternatives, pretrial intervention, drug treatment, and probation, were dealt with in recent New Jersey Supreme Court decisions. The court examined the substantive criteria and procedures used in assigning each disposition and focused primarily on the desire to provide rehabilitative opportunities for each defendant. This note will examine those decisions and the implications of the court's concentration on the goal of rehabilitation.

The Twilight Of Welfare Criminology, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Twilight Of Welfare Criminology: A Final Word, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Proposal For Limiting The Duty Of The Trial Judge To Instruct The Jury Sua Sponte, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article will present what appears to be a workable system which allows fulfillment of both of the jury instruction functions-jury guidance and legal-theory-resolution-and which will simultaneously reduce the number of reversals due to judicial error in instructing the jury (the latter result may be anticipated in any system which is able to produce the former result). This Article proposes the abolition of the sua sponte duty of the trial judge except for certain basic instructions to be specified by statute or by rule of court. The proposal would retain for each advocate the opportunity to propose instructions reflecting his …

Proposal And Analysis Of A Unitary System For Review Of Criminal Judgments, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

Debate continues over expanded use of habeus corpus for collateral attack of criminal judgments. Some commentators argue that the current system of seemingly endless post-conviction review fails to provide the finality and integrity required of any truly fair and effective system of criminal justice. Others claim that such an expansive post-conviction remedy system is justified when a man's liberty is at stake. It is a central thesis of this article that not only does the present system of post-conviction remedies fall short of achieving adequate fairness and comprehensiveness, but also that the attempt to achieve these values has produced a …

Insanity As A Defense: The Bifurcated Trial, David W. Louisell, Geoffrey Hazard

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.