Law Commons^™

The Culture Of Misdemeanor Courts, Jessica A. Roth

Faculty Articles

The misdemeanor courts that preside over the majority of criminal cases in the United States represent the “front porch” of our criminal justice system. These courts vary in myriad ways, including size, structure, and method of judicial appointment. Each also has its own culture – i.e., a settled way of doing things that reflects deeper assumptions about the court’s mission and its role in the community – which can assist or impede desired policy reforms. This Article, written for a Symposium issue of the Hofstra Law Review, draws upon the insights of organizational culture theory to explore how leaders can …

Autonomy And Accountability: Why Informed Consent, Consumer Protection, And Defunding May Beat Conversion Therapy Bans, Melissa Ballengee Alexander

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Deadly Misunderstandings About Police Use Of Deadly Force, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

This short article, written for law enforcement and criminal justice professionals in Texas, summarizes and addresses some of the most common ways in which the laws of justification in Texas are misunderstood and misapplied. The focus is on the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers and the specific provisions contained within the Texas Penal Code regulating the use of the highest level of force by police and others.

Denying The Dyad: How Criminalizing Pregnant Use Harms The Baby, Taxpayers And Vulnerable Women, Melissa Ballengee Alexander

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Federal Rules Update: Rules Amended As Of December 2010, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

Amendments to the Federal Rules of Procedure and Evidence become effective three years from initial drafting by an advisory committee. Proposed amendments are considered by the respective advisory committees, then circulated for public comment, and then forwarded to the Judicial Conference’s Standing Committee on Rules. If approved by the Judicial Conference, they are sent to the Supreme Court for any appropriate changes. If Congress makes no changes after approval by the Supreme Court, the amendments automatically become effective December 1. Two proposed amendments in 2010 did not become effective because they were not submitted to Congress under the procedure outlined …

Toward The Formation Of "Innocence Commissions" In America, Barry C. Scheck, Peter J. Neufeld

Faculty Articles

By monitoring and investigating errors in the criminal justice system, innocence commissions could help remedy systemic defects that bring about wrongful convictions.

Bajakajian: New Hope For Escaping Excessive Fines Under The Civil False Claims Act, Melissa Ballengee Alexander

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Professor Steele’S Opus, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

Walter Steele is a consummate teacher precisely because he always is teaching. To observe him, to converse with him, to listen to him, to read him, is to learn something. He would not talk about ethical behavior in the classroom, only to cut corners in his private life. He would not demand razor-sharp logic from his students, and then allow himself to be sloppy in his own thinking.

Over the years, the word former students seem to use most often to describe Professor Steele is “intimidating.” He is intimidating because of his power; not the power some law professors wield …

In Slime And Darkness: The Metaphor Of Filth In Criminal Justice, Martha Grace Duncan

Faculty Articles

An article such as this one, which seeks to examine the labyrinthine chains of meanings that we associate with illegal behavior, cries out for an interdisciplinary approach. Specifically, it demands a source that can reveal our unconscious as well as our conscious associations. Such a source is classical literature -- works of fiction that, by virtue of being read and loved through centuries and across continents, have proven their capacity to strike a responsive chord in their readers. Therefore, in Part II of this Article, I employ the classics, supplemented by occasional examples from contemporary fiction, history, and theology, to …

When Soldiers Are Defendants, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

In O’Callahan v. Parker, the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a “service connection” requirement for court-martial subject matter jurisdiction. For almost two decades that requirement caused numerous problems of interpretation and application. In Solorio v. United States, the Court overruled its decision in O’Callahan. While assigned to a Coast Guard unit in Juneau, Alaska, the accused committed numerous acts of sexual abuse against two minor daughters of other Coast Guard members. The crimes were not discovered, however, until after he had been transferred to Governors Island, New York, where he committed additional acts of sexual abuse on other daughters of Coast …

Towards Neutral Principles In The Administration Of Criminal Justice: A Critique Of Supreme Court Decisions Sanctioning The Plea Bargaining Process, Malvina Halberstam

Faculty Articles

This article compares the Court's reasoning in plea bargaining cases with its reasoning in non-plea-bargaining cases that involve the same legal principles. It analyzes the Court's arguments for sustaining guilty pleas induced by fear of the death penalty or by promises of leniency, and for sanctioning the imposition of harsher penalties on those who reject prosecutional offers to plead and insist on a trial. Finally, it briefly addresses the contention that the system for the administration of criminal justice in the United States could not function if use of a sentencing differential to induce guilty pleas were prohibited.