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Full-Text Articles in Law
30 = 20: ‘Understanding’ Maximum Sentence Enhancements, Frank R. Herrmann S.J.
30 = 20: ‘Understanding’ Maximum Sentence Enhancements, Frank R. Herrmann S.J.
Frank R. Herrmann, S.J.
In this article, Professor Herrmann argues that the due process protections of a criminal trial should apply to aggravating factors that under current “maximum-enhancing statutes” allow judges to impose lengthier punishments in the sentencing phase. Part I considers the Supreme Court's rationale for refusing to apply full due process safeguards to all types of sentencing schemes. This background will reveal the unique quality of maximum-enhancing statutes and establish why the due process protections of a criminal trial should apply to sentencing under maximum-enhancing statutes. Part I, therefore, undertakes to explain courts' rationales to deny criminal defendants full criminal due process …
Reforming Adult Felony Probation To Ease Prison Overcrowding: An Overview Of California S.B. 678, Jessica K. Feinstein
Reforming Adult Felony Probation To Ease Prison Overcrowding: An Overview Of California S.B. 678, Jessica K. Feinstein
Jessica Feinstein
This article provides a holistic examination of California’s groundbreaking Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act, S.B. 678, passed in 2009 in response to California’s prison crisis. S.B. 678 seeks to create stable funding for county probation departments to implement evidence-based practices by shifting resources from the state prison budget to county probation. Probation is the most frequently imposed form of criminal sentence in California—nor is it limited to the least serious offenders. Estimates of the state’s adult probation population range from roughly 325,000 to 350,000. The article illuminates the goals and mechanisms of S.B. 678 and the challenges facing its implementation. …
Why Our Justice System Convicts Innocent People And The Challenges Faced By Innocence Projects Trying To Exonerate Them, Steven A. Krieger
Why Our Justice System Convicts Innocent People And The Challenges Faced By Innocence Projects Trying To Exonerate Them, Steven A. Krieger
Steven A. Krieger
Despite the prominence and success of the over sixty innocence projects in the United States, there is almost no empirical literature discussing how these organizations operate, what resources or factors contribute to their success, and what challenges they must overcome. This article is a foundational step to fill this void. Following a brief introduction, Part I of the article surveys the reasons why innocent individuals get convicted, including: inaccuracy of eyewitnesses, perjured testimony, availability of DNA testing, accuracy of DNA testing and scientific evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective defense representation, ineffective capital representation, police misconduct: false confessions, and pretrial criminal procedure …