Law Commons^™

Unpleasant Facts: The Supreme Court's Response To Empirical Research On Capital Punishment, Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Book Chapters

Slowly at first, and then with accelerating frequency, the courts have begun to examine, consider, and sometimes even require empirical data. From 1960 to 1981, for example, use of the terms "statistics" and "statistical" in Federal District and Circuit Court opinions increased by almost 15 times.1 Of course, citation rates indicate only that a topic is considered worthy of mention, not that it is taken seriously, or even understood. Nonetheless, in a number of areas, such as jury composition and employment discrimination, the courts have come to rely on empirical data as a matter of course.

In the last 25 …

Black Innocence And The White Jury, Sheri Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Racial prejudice has come under increasingly close scrutiny during the past thirty years, yet its influence on the decisionmaking of criminal juries remains largely hidden from judicial and critical examination. In this Article, Professor Johnson takes a close look at this neglected area. She first sets forth a large body of social science research that reveals a widespread tendency among whites to convict black defendants in instances in which white defendants would be acquitted. Next, she argues that none of the existing techniques for eliminating the influence of racial bias on criminal trials adequately protects minority-race defendants. She contends that …

Reflections On Felony-Murder, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

Of all the reforms proposed by the Model Penal Code, perhaps none has been less influential than the Model Code's recommendation on the perennial problem of felony-murder. As found in our nineteenth-century criminal codes, the rule has several variations. The basic scheme is to hold the accused liable for murder if the killing is connected in any way with the attempt to commit a felony or the flight from the scene of a felony. It does not matter whether the accused or an accomplice causes the death. Nor does it matter whether the killing occurs accidentally and non-negligently. According to …

Desert And Deterrence: An Evaluation Of The Moral Bases For Capital Punishment, Richard O. Lempert

Book Chapters

Because the death penalty was so influential in its development, the law of homicide cannot be thoroughly understood without considering the subject of capital punishment. The question of whether or not the State is justified in taking an offender's life has for centuries been fraught with controversy. Moreover, the law on the subject has become enormously complicated as the courts have attempted to assure that the death penalty is fairly administered.

Guiding Capital Sentencing Discretion Beyond The "Boiler Plate": Mental Disorder As A Mitigating Factor, James S. Liebman, Michael J. Shepard

Faculty Scholarship

In five decisions handed down on July 2, 1976, the United States Supreme Court held that the death penalty may be imposed for the crime of murder, so long as there are clear standards to guide the sentencing authority and the sanction is not imposed mandatorily. The authors examine the eighth amendment doctrinal framework used by the Court in the July 2 Cases, with particular reference to the requirement that individualized mitigating information be considered in the sentencing decision. Illustrating that requirement, they contend that mental disorder should be considered as a possibly mitigating factor and then suggest a standard …

Societal Concepts Of Criminal Liability For Homicide In Medieval England, Thomas A. Green

Articles

THE early history of English criminal law lies hidden behind the laconic formulas of the rolls and law books. The rules of the law, as expounded by the judges, have been the subject of many studies; but their practical application in the courts, where the jury of the community was the final and unbridled arbiter, remains a mystery: in short, we know little of the social mores regarding crime and crimi- nals. This study represents an attempt to delineate one major aspect of these societal attitudes. Its thesis is that from late Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the middle …

Facts And Figures Concerning Executions In California, 1938-1962, Geroge E. Danielson

California Assembly

The purpose of this report is to present as much statistical material as is now available relating to those persons who have suffered the death penalty in California.

This study is prompted by the current debate on whether the California Legislature should enact a moratorium on the death penalty during the 1963 General Session. In making their judgments on that grave question the members of the Legislature need to, consider and evaluate all available factual information. Unfortunately we have observed that, except for the moral question, the discussion on all sides has been noted chiefly for an abundance of undocumented …

People V. Riser [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

In a capital murder prosecution, a trial court's grant of the prosecution's challenge to a juror, who stated that in no event would he vote for the death penalty, was not error.

Caritativo V. Teets [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Writ of mandate would not issue to compel warden to institute proceedings to determine present sanity of defendant awaiting execution of death penalty after warden determined that there was not good reason to believe defendant was presently insane.

People V. Gilliam [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Defendant's conviction of first degree murder and sentence of the death penalty were proper because there was no provocation for his conduct, and the circumstances showed an abandoned and malignant heart together with a consciousness of guilt.

People V. Thomas, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

In murder case, the court did not have the authority to reduce defendant's death sentence to life imprisonment because defendant failed to show prejudicial error with respect to the sentencing order.