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Full-Text Articles in Law
Fast-Track Sentencing: A Potential Solution To The Divisive Discretion, Elizabeth Weber
Fast-Track Sentencing: A Potential Solution To The Divisive Discretion, Elizabeth Weber
Missouri Law Review
This Summary examines the current federal sentencing regime, the establishment of fast-track programs, and the resulting circuit split regarding whether a judge can grant a defendant a more lenient sentence based on the lack of availability of a fast-track option in that jurisdiction. Further, it discusses more recent developments regarding the circuit split and how the new DOJ policy purports to resolve the issue. Finally, this Summary argues that while this change does solve the sentencing disparity problem, it conflicts with the congressional policy underlying the official sanction of fast-track programs.
The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone
The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone
Missouri Law Review
This Law Summary will address the Supreme Court of Missouri's proportionality review jurisprudence, the rationales of two opinions in Deck," and the relationship of the Deck opinions to precedent and public policy. Additionally, this Summary will address the court's subsequent application of and debate about proportionality review as well as the legislative response. Finally, this Summary will conclude that for proportionality review to serve a meaningful function, the court must consider all affirmed, factually similar capital cases that resulted in either life imprisonment or a death sentence because only considering factually similar cases which resulted in the death penalty essentially …
Cost As A Sentencing Factor: Missouri's Experiment, Chad Flanders
Cost As A Sentencing Factor: Missouri's Experiment, Chad Flanders
Missouri Law Review
This argument is avowedly theoretical and normative. That is, this Article tries to determine what judges ought to do, not what they in fact do. Judges and attorneys may argue cost at sentencing hearings, and many of them do. That does not mean that they should be debating cost or basing sentencing decisions on it. I also am not concerned about whether, pragmatically, letting judges figure cost into their decisions might be a good thing overall, because it might lead to lower sentences. I put these concerns to one side, important as they may be as a practical matter. Instead, …
Cost As A Sentencing Factor: A Response, Jeff Milyo
Cost As A Sentencing Factor: A Response, Jeff Milyo
Missouri Law Review
Professor Chad Flanders offers a normative theoretical critique of including costs of punishment in Sentence Advisory Reports (SARs) that the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission (MOSAC) produces. This approach provides a useful lens for understanding divergent opinions on the practice of including cost information in SARs and provides a consistent logical framework for understanding whether this practice squares with more fundamental principles of criminal punishment. In this Response, I complement the normative analysis in the main Article with several observations from a different analytical perspective. As an empirical social scientist, my analytical approach is based on positive analysis. I am less …
Anti-Bribery Legislation In The United States And United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis Of Scope And Sentencing, Margaret Ryznor, Samer Korkor
Anti-Bribery Legislation In The United States And United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis Of Scope And Sentencing, Margaret Ryznor, Samer Korkor
Missouri Law Review
Lawmakers and prosecutors continue to take aim at a major subset of global corruption - corporate bribery of foreign government officials. Specifically, while the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States has risen to new records, the United Kingdom has revolutionized its anti-bribery law following global criticism of its previously relaxed legal regime. Both U.S. and U.K. anti-bribery laws, furthermore, apply extraterritorially and have the capability to entangle even the largest multinational companies in their legal frameworks. These all-encompassing frameworks hold significant consequences for both corporations and their employees, but the increasing power of anti-bribery law …
Visibly Shackled: The Supreme Court's Failure To Distinguish Between Convicted And Accused At Sentencing For Capital Crimes, David R. Wallis
Visibly Shackled: The Supreme Court's Failure To Distinguish Between Convicted And Accused At Sentencing For Capital Crimes, David R. Wallis
Missouri Law Review
American courts have long held that the practice of placing a criminal defendant in visible shackles during the guilt phase of trial is inherently prejudicial and have required courts to state with particularity the reason for doing so. However, no bright-line rule establishes the proper procedure or the degree of discretion given to the trial courts when making their determination. As a result, disparity has developed among the courts as to when and under what circumstances a criminal defendant may be shackled. Even greater confusion arises when courts consider the issue of shackling a convicted defendant during sentencing. For instance, …
Sentencing Criminals: The Constitutionality Of Victim Impact Statements, Carrie L. Mulholland
Sentencing Criminals: The Constitutionality Of Victim Impact Statements, Carrie L. Mulholland
Missouri Law Review
Most jurisdictions around the country permit juries to consider victim impact statements, statements taken from the family of a victim of violent crime relating to the family's loss, during the sentencing phase of criminal trials. In 1994, the Missouri Supreme Court followed this trend in State v. Wise by approving the use of victim impact statements, and allowing the statements to be presented to the jury at the sentencing stage of a capital punishment trial. Despite the constitutionality of the introduction of a victim's family's statements, the statements have been severely criticized for: (1) rendering the sentencing of a criminal …