Law Commons^™

Sentencing In West Germany , Thomas Weigend

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nonadversarial Justice: The French Experience, Edward A. Tomlinson

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Warrantless Searches And Seizures In Virginia, Ronald J. Bacigal

University of Richmond Law Review

There is a well-recognized lack of consistency and clarity in fourth amendment decisions. At times, each search and seizure case seenis unique and the decisions appear to rest on factual determinations rather than on legal principles. Nonetheless, it is desirable to have some understanding of the basic principles of the fourth amendment, and the way in which these principles affect individual cases.

The Hearsay Exception For Public Records In Federal Criminal Trials, Vincent C. Alexander

Faculty Publications

The hearsay exception for "public records" was recognized at common law and has been further developed in most jurisdictions by statute. The reliability of public records is said to derive from the presumption of regularity and accuracy that attends the recording of events by public officials. As with the hearsay exception for recordsmade in the regular course of a private business, the reliability of many public records is enhanced by the routine and repetitive circumstancesunder which such records are made. An additional justificationfor the admission of public records is public convenience: If government employees are continually required to testify in …

Constitutional Limitations On Prosecutorial Discovery, Eric Blumenson

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The purpose of this Article is to explore the constitutional implications of prosecutorial discovery and to define the limits that the Constitution imposes upon it. Following an examination of the impact of prosecutorial discovery on the accusatorial system of justice, this Article identifies and describes four constitutionally grounded principles which call into question whether prosecutorial discovery may permissibly be expanded beyond the scope of the rule upheld by the Supreme Court in Williams v. Florida. First, the fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Williams, limits prosecutorial discovery to evidence that the defendant presently intends …

The Silent Revolution, Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Preclusiveness Of A Party's Testimony: Sixty Years Of Massie V. Firmstone In Virginia, Ann L. Hardy

University of Richmond Law Review

The rule that a party may rise no higher than his own testimony was first articulated in Virginia in Massie v. Firmstone. It has been criticized, misunderstood, and misapplied, but since its inception in 1922, it has grown into an important rule of evidence and procedure. The practitioner must consider the implications of the rule from the moment he begins to gather evidence that he expects to present in the form of live testimony.

Virginia Criminal Procedure, Murray J. Janus

University of Richmond Law Review

Professor Ronald J. Bacigal of the T.C. Williams School of Law has made a valuable contribution to the criminal justice system with the recent publication of this book. Not only is the book well-written, but it is succinct and of a size that will easily fit into a lawyer's briefcase to accompany him to court. The manner in which the book is written is such that it can be readily understood by laymen interested in the law or used as the text for a course on criminal procedure in law school or college, and yet the book is detailed enough …

The Legal/Extra-Legal Controversy: Judicial Decisions In Pretrial Release, Ilene H. Nagel

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This study analyzes data for state criminal defendants prosecuted in New York to determine the bases upon which judges make pretrial release decisions for these defendants. Treating statutory law as defining the category of legal variables, it finds legal factors substantially affect decisions about whether to release a defendant on recognizance, the amount of bail required, and whether to offer a defendant a cash alternative to a surety bond. The impact of these factors varies, however, depending upon the particular decision being made. Factors not prescribed in the statute-extra-legal factors—are also found to affect these pretrial release decisions. Their impact, …

Amendments To The Federal Rules Of Criminal Procedure, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Numerous changes in the rules governing criminal trials in federal court have been in effect for four months. Some are major and some are minor, but they should be studied carefully by lawyers handling criminal cases. Amendments have been made to:

Questions Surrounding Virginia's Death Penalty, James T. Lloyd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

On August 10, 1982, Frank J. Coppola died in Virginia's electric chair. His was the fifth execution since the 1976 Supreme Court decision holding that a punishment of death was not unconstitutional per se. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Coppola's was the first execution in over a decade.

The Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity Verdict: Should Juries Be Informed Of Its Consequences?, Jennifer Fletcher

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Dilemma Of Criminal Responsibility, David L. Bazelon

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Law Survey: Criminal Procedure, William H. Fortune, Sarah N. Welling

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Abolition Of The Insanity Defense: Madness And The Criminal Law, Richard G. Singer

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Excessive Sanctions For Governmental Misconduct In Criminal Cases, Richard A. Posner

Washington Law Review

The fourth amendment, as is well known, forbids unreasonable searches and seizures by government officers; if the government tries to introduce evidence in a criminal trial that was seized in violation of the fourth amendment, the defendant can get the evidence suppressed. If the evidence is vital to conviction, this means that the defendant will be acquitted simply because the evidence was obtained illegally. This is the famous exclusionary rule of the law of search and seizure. The exclusionary rule is one example of a sanction for governmental miconduct: evidence that may be essential to convicting a dangerous criminal is …

The Exclusionary Rule, Deterrence And Posner's Economic Analysis Of Law, Arval A. Morris

Washington Law Review

Judge Posner holds economic theory demonstrates that the fourth amendment's exclusionary rule and other judicially developed doctrines implementing the Constitution impose excessive sanctions for governmental misconduct in criminal cases. This Article, focusing on the exclusionary rule, aims to place his economic argument in historical context and to assess it.

Prosecutorial Peremptory Challenge Practices In Capital Cases: An Empirical Study And A Constitutional Analysis, Bruce J. Winick

Michigan Law Review

As presently construed, the Constitution does not prohibit the death penalty. The states and the federal government may punish the commission of certain crimes with death, so long as the extreme penalty is not imposed on a mandatory basis and so long as the procedures used in imposing a death sentence meet constitutional scrutiny.

A demonstration that the prosecutor used the peremptory challenge in the manner described in a single case probably would be insufficient to support a constitutional challenge in the federal courts and in the vast majority of state courts. In these courts a prosecutor's use of the …

Prosecutorial Vindictiveness In The Criminal Appellate Process: Due Process Protection After United States V. Goodwin, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note reformulates the doctrine of prosecutorial vindictiveness in light of the distinction drawn in Goodwin between pretrial and posttrial charging decisions. Part I recounts the development of the vindictiveness concept, and argues that in extending the doctrine beyond the factual settings which moved the Supreme Court to fashion its original prophylactic rule, the circuit courts have seriously eroded an essential due process safeguard. Part II critically examines the distinction between pretrial and posttrial charging decisions relied upon in Goodwin. Developing the logical corollary of the Goodwin holding, this Part argues that just as the pretrial situation does not …

The Exclusionary Rule: An Examination Of The Case Law And The Present Posture Of The Florida Supreme Court, Michael Shaw Tammaro

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jones V. Barnes, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Jones V. United States, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Solem V. Helm, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Judicial Control Of Prosecutorial Discretion In Pretrial Diversion Programs, William Helmer

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disclosure And Civil Use Of Immunized Testimony, Elizabeth J. Schwartz

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Recent Development examines the current conflict among the circuits. This study first explores the rationales under-lying use immunity and contrasts them with the guidelines formulated by the Supreme Court for controlling judicial disclosure of grand jury testimony. Second, this Recent Development examines the analyses used by the federal courts in determining whether to release immunized grand jury testimony for civil use's and the effect of disclosure on a witness' claim of fifth amendment privilege.This study submits that in their effort to promote civil discovery,several courts have misconstrued the scope and effect of the disclosure power and have usurped the …

The Dimensions Of Seizure: The Concepts Of "Stop" And "Arrest", Richard A. Williamson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Communication In The Courtroom: Jury Instructions, Michael J. Farrell

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Collateral Estoppel Effect Of Guilty Pleas In Section 1983 Actions

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Agency Access To Grand Jury Transcripts Under Rule 6 (E), Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Part I examines the courts' current certainty-based perspective, and rejects this approach because it sacrifices important interests in civil law enforcement and judicial consistency for speculative and coincidental reductions in grand jury abuse. Part II defends the proposed standard by arguing that it comports with the language and intent of the rule while more effectively advancing the policy interests in civil law enforcement and grand jury secrecy.

Recidivist Statutes—Application Of Proportionality And Overbreadth Doctrines To Repeat Offenders—Wanstreet V. Bordenkircher, 276 S.E.2d 205 (W. Va. 1981), Marc G. Wilhelm

Washington Law Review

In 1967 George Wanstreet was convicted of forging a forty-three dollar check and received a life sentence under West Virginia's recidivist statute. This statute, one of the two harshest in the nation, requires life imprisonment for persons convicted of three felonies. Wanstreet had been convicted in 1951 for forging an eighteen dollar check and in 1955 for arson of a barn valued at $490. He had been in prison more than ten years for the 1967 conviction when the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals held, in Wanstreet v. Bordenkircher, that his sentence violated the proportionality clause of the West …