Law Commons^™

Truth And Consequences: The Force Of Blackmail's Central Case, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Blackmail commentary continues to proliferate. One purpose of this paper is to show what we agree on. Its primary tool will be to define what I call the "central case" of blackmail literature, and to supply the connecting links that will allow us to see how various normative theories converge in condemning central case blackmail. Admittedly, the law criminalizes more than my central case. But once we recognize that the central case is neither puzzling nor paradoxical, it may be easier to handle the border cases that arise.

Guideline Developments In The First Circuit: The Two Faces Of Appellate Review, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reviewing Departures: The First Circuit's New Rivera Rule, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Securities Law Enforcement Priorities, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Extending The Guiding Lefthand Of Counsel: The Minnesota Supreme Court Provides Protection Against Uncounseled Waivers Of The Right To Counsel During Interrogations, Edwin J. Butterfoss, Lisa J. Burkett

Faculty Scholarship

It is the thesis of this Article that the cases on which the Minnesota Supreme Court in Lefthand relied and the policy concerns that motivated the court suggest that the rule of Lefthand should apply to any suspect who has asserted her right to counsel, regardless of whether that suspect is in custody, formally charged, or formally represented by counsel. If the court's ruling in Lefthand is carried to its logical scope, law enforcement officers and prosecutors in Minnesota may find that very early in the criminal justice process they are precluded from obtaining waivers of the right to counsel …

Uncharged Misconduct Evidence In Sex Crime Cases: Reassessing The Rule Of Exclusion, Roger C. Park, David P. Bryden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Search, Seizure And The Positive Law: Expectations Of Privacy Outside The Fourth Amendment, Daniel B. Yeager

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is about the misunderstood relationship between the Fourth Amendment and the positive law. It shows how state property law and other expressions of the positive law are more resilient and useful to Fourth Amendment analysis than the Court's decisions of the past three decades recognize.

The Political Economy Of Female Violent Street Crime, Deborah Baskin, Ira Sommers, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Ten years after the U.S. Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime considered problems of violence in the United States, and on the heels of a National Academy Sciences report on violence, the nation seems poised to begin a new "war on violence." Past "wars" on crime problems, including the recently stalemated "war on drugs" have focused primarily on males. This one promises to be no different. Violence continues to be viewed as the province of young males in urban areas. According to the Uniform Crime Reports, over 75% of homicide victims in 1990 were males, and over 85% of …

Further Reflections On Libertarian Criminal Defense, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Since David Luban's is the work on legal ethics that I admire and agree with most, there is an element of perversity in my vehement critique of his arguments on criminal defense. I am therefore especially thankful for his gracious and thoughtful response. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that Luban is mistaken in excepting criminal defense from much of the responsibility to substantive justice that we both think appropriate in every other sphere of lawyering.

Reel Time/Real Justice, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

Like the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings a few months before, the Rodney King beating, the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers who "restrained" him and the subsequent civil unrest in Los Angeles flashed Race across the national consciousness and the gaze of American culture momentarily froze there. Pieces of everyday racial dynamics briefly seemed clear, then faded from view, replaced by presidential politics and natural disasters.

This Essay examines in more depth what was exposed during the momentary national focus on Rodney King. Two main events – the acquittal of the police officers who beat King and the civil …

Lawyers At The Prison Gates: Organizational Structure And Corrections Advocacy, Susan Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

The rise of the public interest law movement ushered in an era of intense debate over the best way to provide legal representation to those unable to afford private counsel. This debate has involved two related dimensions of public interest representation. First, advocates and observers of public interest practice disagree over the proper role of lawyers acting on behalf of poor and underrepresented clients. They offer competing visions of representation spanning a continuum, from providing equal access to the courts for as many poor people as possible, to attacking the causes and effects of poverty and powerlessness.

The second dimension …

Why The Court Loves Batson: Representation-Reinforcement, Colorblindness, And The Jury, Susan Herman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Blackmail: The Paradigmatic Crime, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The ongoing debate about the rationale for punishing blackmail assumes that there is something odd about the crime. Why, the question goes, should demanding money to conceal embarrassing information be criminalized when there is nothing wrong with the separate acts of keeping silent or requesting payment for services rendered? Why should an innocent end (silence) coupled with a generally respectable means (monetary payment) constitute a crime? This supposed paradox, however, is not peculiar to blackmail. Many good acts are corrupted by doing them for a price. There is nothing wrong with government officials showing kindness or doing favors for their …