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Trading A Confession For A Search: A Proposal To Deter Texting While Driving And Warrantless Cell Phone Searches, Adam Gershowitz
Trading A Confession For A Search: A Proposal To Deter Texting While Driving And Warrantless Cell Phone Searches, Adam Gershowitz
Adam M. Gershowitz
Dozens of state legislatures have recently criminalized texting while driving. Unfortunately, these statutes are deeply flawed because they are under-inclusive, ambiguous, and impose punishments so light that they are unlikely to deter drivers. At the same time, by criminalizing texting while driving, legislatures have empowered police to conduct warrantless searches of drivers’ cell phones under the Fourth Amendment’s search incident to arrest and automobile exceptions. The disconnect is stark: For a crime that carries a $20 fine in some states, police are free to search a driver’s text messages, emails, internet browsing history, facebook account, photos, and countless other applications …
Is Texas Tough On Crime But Soft On Criminal Procedure?, Adam Gershowitz
Is Texas Tough On Crime But Soft On Criminal Procedure?, Adam Gershowitz
Adam M. Gershowitz
Although Texas is well known for imposing tough punishments on convicted defendants, it is surprisingly generous in affording criminal procedure protections. In a variety of areas, including search and seizure rules, confession requirements, the availability of bail, discovery obligations on prosecutors, and jury trial guarantees, Texas affords protections vastly in excess of what is required by the United States Constitution. Even more shockingly, these criminal procedure guarantees come almost entirely from Texas statutes approved by the Legislature, not activist rules imposed by judges. This article explores Texas’s reputation as a tough-on-crime state and the seeming inconsistency between Texas being tough …