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Criminal Procedure

Sentencing

Selected Works

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Full-Text Articles in Law

A Few Criminal Justice Big Data Rules, Stephen E. Henderson Dec 2017

A Few Criminal Justice Big Data Rules, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

As with most new things, the big data revolution in criminal justice has historic antecedents—indeed, a 1965 Presidential Commission called for some of the same data analysis that police departments and courts are today developing and implementing.  But there is no doubt we are on the precipice of a criminal justice data revolution, and it is a good time to take stock and to begin developing guidelines so that, as much as possible, criminal justice systems might reap the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of this newly data-centric world.  In that spirit, I propose ten high-level rules to guide criminal …

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Law Enforcement And Criminal Law Decisions, Erwin Chemerinsky Jun 2017

Law Enforcement And Criminal Law Decisions, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

No abstract provided.

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Fourteen Years Later: The Capital Punishment System In California, Robert M. Sanger Aug 2016

Fourteen Years Later: The Capital Punishment System In California, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Fourteen years ago, the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment issued a Report recommending 85 reforms in the criminal justice system in that state to help minimize the possibility that an innocent person would be executed. The following year, this author conducted an empirical study, later published in the Santa Clara Law Review, to determine if  California’s system was in need of the same reforms.  The study concluded that over ninety-two percent of the same reforms were needed in California. In addition, the study showed that the California system had additional weaknesses beyond those of Illinois that also could lead to …

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The Meaning Of "Meaningful Appellate Review" In Capital Cases: Lessons From California, Steven Shatz Dec 2015

The Meaning Of "Meaningful Appellate Review" In Capital Cases: Lessons From California, Steven Shatz

Steven F. Shatz

In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court's seminal death penalty case, the Court held that the death penalty, as then administered, violated the Eighth Amendment because the penalty decision was so unguided and the imposition of the death penalty was so infrequent as to create an unconstitutional risk of arbitrariness. The Court's remedy, developed in subsequent decisions, was to require the state legislatures to "genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty" and the state courts to provide "meaningful appellate review" of death sentences. In recent years, a number of scholars have addressed the genuine narrowing requirement …

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Dying To Appeal: The Long-Lasting And Ineffective Appeal Process Of The Death Sentence, Marlene Brito Aug 2015

Dying To Appeal: The Long-Lasting And Ineffective Appeal Process Of The Death Sentence, Marlene Brito

Marlene Brito

The appeal process for death sentences in Florida must be revised to correct the ineffectiveness that is currently in place. The long-lasting procedure allows inmates to indefinitely delay their execution and live via the appeal process for over fifteen years because the statute does not provide a definite time limit. The comment discusses the death penalty in the United States, the jury override law and its consequences, the appeal process itself, and proposes an amendment to section 921.141, Florida Statutes.

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Mercy By The Numbers: An Empirical Analysis Of Clemency And Its Structure, Michael Heise Feb 2015

Mercy By The Numbers: An Empirical Analysis Of Clemency And Its Structure, Michael Heise

Michael Heise

Clemency is an extrajudicial measure intended both to enhance fairness in the administration of justice, and allow for the correction of mistakes. Perhaps nowhere are these goals more important than in the death penalty context. The recent increased use of the death penalty and concurrent decline in the number of defendants removed from death row through clemency call for a better and deeper understanding of clemency authority and its application. Questions about whether clemency decisions are consistently and fairly distributed are particularly apt. This study uses 27 years of death penalty and clemency data to explore the influence of defendant …

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Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why The Child Endangerment Enhancement Is Not Appropriate, Monica Carusello Jan 2015

Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why The Child Endangerment Enhancement Is Not Appropriate, Monica Carusello

Monica B Carusello

No abstract provided.

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Black Innocence And The White Jury, Sheri Johnson Dec 2014

Black Innocence And The White Jury, Sheri Johnson

Sheri Lynn Johnson

Racial prejudice has come under increasingly close scrutiny during the past thirty years, yet its influence on the decisionmaking of criminal juries remains largely hidden from judicial and critical examination. In this Article, Professor Johnson takes a close look at this neglected area. She first sets forth a large body of social science research that reveals a widespread tendency among whites to convict black defendants in instances in which white defendants would be acquitted. Next, she argues that none of the existing techniques for eliminating the influence of racial bias on criminal trials adequately protects minority-race defendants. She contends that …

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At Issue: Should Mandatory Sentences Be Abolished?, Steven L. Chanenson, Douglas A. Berman Jan 2014

At Issue: Should Mandatory Sentences Be Abolished?, Steven L. Chanenson, Douglas A. Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No sentencing structure can always guarantee the indisputably "right" result. But we should strive for greater fairness and effectiveness through nuanced sentencing guidelines and appellate review. Mandatory minimums within such a system are a tool of prosecutorial power masquerading as an instrument of justice.

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Last Words: A Survey And Analysis Of Federal Judges' Views On Allocution In Sentencing, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2013

Last Words: A Survey And Analysis Of Federal Judges' Views On Allocution In Sentencing, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Allocution-the penultimate stage of a criminal proceeding at which the judge affords defendants an opportunity to speak their last words before sentencing-is a centuries-old right in criminal cases, and academics have theorized about the various purposes it serves. But what do sitting federal judges think about allocution? Do they actually use it to raise or lower sentences? Do they think it serves purposes above and beyond sentencing? Are there certain factors that judges like or dislike in allocutions? These questions-and many others-are answered directly in this first-ever study of judges' views and practices regarding allocution. The authors surveyed all federal …

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Retribution: The Central Aim Of Punishment, Gerard V. Bradley Oct 2013

Retribution: The Central Aim Of Punishment, Gerard V. Bradley

Gerard V. Bradley

When I worked for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in the early 1980s, criminal sentences were consistently and dramatically too lenient. Though those years marked the ebb tide for the rehabilitative ideal of punishment and indeterminate "zip-to-ten" sentences, only career felons and those convicted of the most serious crimes were candidates for the sentences they justly deserved. Hamstrung by apparently silly rules of constitutional etiquette and bureaucratic sclerosis, the police were eclipsed in the mind of the public by the cold-blooded Everyman, bound only by the law of the jungle and some elusive sense of justice. Ultimately, popular demand required …

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Mercenary Criminal Justice, Ronald F. Wright, Wayne A. Logan Mar 2013

Mercenary Criminal Justice, Ronald F. Wright, Wayne A. Logan

Ronald F. Wright

Lately, a growing number of bill collectors stand in line to collect on the debt that criminals owe to society. Courts order payment of costs; legislatures levy conviction surcharges; even private, for-profit entities get a piece of the action, collecting fees for probation supervision services and the like. And some of these collectors beckon even before a final bill is due, such as prosecutors who require suspects to pay diversion fees before they file any charges.

Government budgetary cutbacks during the Great Recession have led criminal justice actors to rely on legal financial obligations (LFOs) as a source of revenue …

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Criminal Forfeiture Procedure In 2013: An Annual Survey Of Developments In The Case Law, Stefan D. Cassella Dec 2012

Criminal Forfeiture Procedure In 2013: An Annual Survey Of Developments In The Case Law, Stefan D. Cassella

Stefan D Cassella

This is another in a series of articles on developments in the federal case law relating to criminal forfeiture procedure. It covers the cases decided in 2012 and early 2013. The article begins with the cases that illustrate the concept that criminal forfeiture is part of the defendant’s sentence in a criminal case. It then takes the reader more or less chronologically through the litigation of a case, beginning with the seizure and restraint of the property and continuing through the trial and sentencing of the defendant and the adjudication of third-party issues in the post-trial ancillary proceeding. Except in …

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New Data And New Questions: Trac's Contribution To Federal Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman Sep 2012

New Data And New Questions: Trac's Contribution To Federal Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem And The Brady Safety-Valve, Lucian Dervan Dec 2011

Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem And The Brady Safety-Valve, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

If any number of attorneys were asked in 2004 whether Lea Fastow’s plea bargain in the Enron case was constitutional, the majority would respond with a simple word – Brady. Yet while the 1970 Supreme Court decision Brady v. United States authorized plea bargaining as a form of American justice, the case also contained a vital caveat that has been largely overlooked by scholars, practitioners, and courts for almost forty years. Brady contains a safety-valve that caps the amount of pressure that may be asserted against defendants by prohibiting prosecutors from offering incentives in return for guilty pleas that are …

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Follow The Evidence: Integrate Risk Assessment Into Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Jordan Hyatt, Maerk Bergstrom Mar 2011

Follow The Evidence: Integrate Risk Assessment Into Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Jordan Hyatt, Maerk Bergstrom

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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The Adventure Continues, Steven Chanenson May 2010

The Adventure Continues, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Sentencing Beyond Our Borders, Steven Chanenson Mar 2010

Sentencing Beyond Our Borders, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Shaping Modern Sentencing: Three Giants, Steven Chanenson, Mark Miller Mar 2009

Shaping Modern Sentencing: Three Giants, Steven Chanenson, Mark Miller

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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The Next Era Of Sentencing Reform ... Revisited, Steven Chanenson, Mark Bergstrom, Frank Dermody, Jordan Hyatt Jan 2009

The Next Era Of Sentencing Reform ... Revisited, Steven Chanenson, Mark Bergstrom, Frank Dermody, Jordan Hyatt

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Revolution Or Evolution: Recent Developments In American Federal Criminal Sentencing, Steven L. Chanenson Dec 2008

Revolution Or Evolution: Recent Developments In American Federal Criminal Sentencing, Steven L. Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Statement Of Steven L. Chanenson Before The United States Sentencing Commission Regarding Retroactivity Of Crack Guidelines Amendments, Steven Chanenson Oct 2007

Statement Of Steven L. Chanenson Before The United States Sentencing Commission Regarding Retroactivity Of Crack Guidelines Amendments, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Federal Cocaine Sentencing In Transition, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman May 2007

Federal Cocaine Sentencing In Transition, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Can And Will Information Spur Post-Modern Setencing Reforms?, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman Mar 2007

Can And Will Information Spur Post-Modern Setencing Reforms?, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Perjury Or Subornation Of Perjury; Bribery Of Witness: Model Sentencing Guidelines § 2j1, Steven Chanenson May 2006

Perjury Or Subornation Of Perjury; Bribery Of Witness: Model Sentencing Guidelines § 2j1, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Obstruction Of Justice: Model Sentencing Guidelines §2j2, Steven Chanenson May 2006

Obstruction Of Justice: Model Sentencing Guidelines §2j2, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Reconciling The Booker Conflict: A Substantive Sixth Amendment In A Real Offense Sentencing System, Bertrall L. Ross Dec 2005

Reconciling The Booker Conflict: A Substantive Sixth Amendment In A Real Offense Sentencing System, Bertrall L. Ross

Bertrall L Ross

No abstract provided.

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Booker On Crack: Sentencing’S Latest Gordian Knot, Steven L. Chanenson Dec 2005

Booker On Crack: Sentencing’S Latest Gordian Knot, Steven L. Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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Sentencing And Data: The Not-So-Odd-Couple, Steven Chanenson Sep 2003

Sentencing And Data: The Not-So-Odd-Couple, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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A Handbook On Sentencing, Brian Slattery Dec 1971

A Handbook On Sentencing, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

This book aims to show that sentencing, like any other area of the law, is governed by reasonably well-defined principles and rules. Although these rules are known to any experienced judge and are frequently invoked in judgments, they have never been organized into an explicit and coherent system and have suffered from this neglect. This book provides not only better access to the rules but also a logical framework within which they can be discussed and applied. While the work has specific application to Tanzania, it should be of use throughout East and Central Africa, whose nations have similar penal …

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