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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Law
Unlocking The Eighth Amendment’S Power To Make Innocence A Constitutional Claim, David Niven
Unlocking The Eighth Amendment’S Power To Make Innocence A Constitutional Claim, David Niven
david niven
The U.S. Supreme Court has articulated no definitive constitutional bar to executing the innocent. While the text of the Constitution may not directly speak to the question, the court has elsewhere held, repeatedly and unanimously, that the operative meaning of the Eighth Amendment is shaped by decisions of state legislators. That is, if state legislators deem something cruel and unusual (executing minors, for example) it has therefore been rejected by society and is constitutionally barred. If legislators deem a particular practice acceptable, it is acceptable to society and thus permitted by the Constitution. Despite their significance in death penalty jurisprudence …
Un-Convicting The Innocent: The Case For Shaken Baby Syndrome Review Panels, Rachel Burg
Un-Convicting The Innocent: The Case For Shaken Baby Syndrome Review Panels, Rachel Burg
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note proposes that states should develop error-correction bodies to identify past errors that have resulted in wrongful convictions of people accused of shaking a child. These institutions, which I call SBS Review Panels, would be similar to the error-correction bodies and commissions that have recently been established throughout the world to deal with various sorts of wrongful convictions. An SBS-specific commission should be developed because of the high level of scientific expertise that is required to fully understand this diagnosis and the problems associated with using the triad of medical findings as evidence of the defendant's conduct. Part I …
Remedying Wrongful Execution, Meghan J. Ryan
Remedying Wrongful Execution, Meghan J. Ryan
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The first legal determination of wrongful execution in the United States may very well be in the making in Texas. One of the state's district courts is in the midst of investigating whether Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004, was actually innocent. The court's investigation has been interrupted by objections from Texas prosecutors, but if the court proceeds, this may very well become a bona fide case of wrongful execution. Texas, just like other jurisdictions, is ill equipped to provide any relief for such an egregious wrong, however. This Article identifies the difficulties that the heirs, families, and …
Criminal Sanctions In The Defense Of The Innocent, Ehud Guttel, Doron Teichman
Criminal Sanctions In The Defense Of The Innocent, Ehud Guttel, Doron Teichman
Michigan Law Review
Under the formal rules of criminal procedure, fact finders are required to apply a uniform standard of proof in all criminal cases. Experimental studies as well as real world examples indicate, however, that fact finders often adjust the evidentiary threshold for conviction in accordance with the severity of the applicable sanction. All things being equal, the higher the sanction, the higher the standard of proof that fact finders will apply in order to convict. Building on this insight, this Article introduces a new paradigm for criminal punishments-a paradigm that focuses on designing penalties that will reduce the risk of unsubstantiated …
Exonerations In The United States, 1989-2012: Report By The National Registry Of Exonerations, Samuel R. Gross, Michael Shaffer
Exonerations In The United States, 1989-2012: Report By The National Registry Of Exonerations, Samuel R. Gross, Michael Shaffer
Other Publications
This report is about 873 exonerations in the United States, from January 1989 through February 2012. Behind each is a story, and almost all are tragedies. The tragedies are not limited to the exonerated defendants themselves, or to their families and friends. In most cases they were convicted of vicious crimes in which other innocent victims were killed or brutalized. Many of the victims who survived were traumatized all over again, years later, when they learned that the criminal who had attacked them had not been caught and punished after all, and that they themselves may have played a role …
Exonerating The Innocent: Pretrial Innocence Procedures, Tim Bakken, Lewis M. Steel
Exonerating The Innocent: Pretrial Innocence Procedures, Tim Bakken, Lewis M. Steel
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
Dallas County Conviction Integrity Unit And The Importance Of Getting It Right The First Time, Mike Ware
Dallas County Conviction Integrity Unit And The Importance Of Getting It Right The First Time, Mike Ware
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
Innocence Is Different: Taking Innocence Into Account In Reforming Criminal Procedure, D. Michael Risinger, Lesley C. Risinger
Innocence Is Different: Taking Innocence Into Account In Reforming Criminal Procedure, D. Michael Risinger, Lesley C. Risinger
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
Freeing The Guilty Without Protecting The Innocent: Some Skeptical Observations On Proposed New “Innocence” Procedures, Paul G. Cassell
Freeing The Guilty Without Protecting The Innocent: Some Skeptical Observations On Proposed New “Innocence” Procedures, Paul G. Cassell
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
Models Of Justice To Protect Innocent Persons, Tim Bakken
Models Of Justice To Protect Innocent Persons, Tim Bakken
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Problem Of Convicting Innocent Persons: How Often Does It Occur And How Can It Be Prevented?, Leon Friedman
The Problem Of Convicting Innocent Persons: How Often Does It Occur And How Can It Be Prevented?, Leon Friedman
NYLS Law Review
No abstract provided.
A Crisis In Federal Habeas Law, Eve Brensike Primus
A Crisis In Federal Habeas Law, Eve Brensike Primus
Reviews
Everyone recognizes that federal habeas doctrine is a mess. Despite repeated calls for reform, federal judges continue to waste countless hours reviewing habeas petitions only to dismiss the vast majority of them on procedural grounds. Broad change is necessary, but to be effective, such change must be animated by an overarching theory that explains when federal courts should exercise habeas jurisdiction. In Habeas for the Twenty-First Century: Uses, Abuses, and the Future of the Great Writ, Professors Nancy King and Joseph Hoffmann offer such a theory. Drawing on history, current practice, and empirical data, King and Hoffmann find unifying themes …
Innocence And Federal Habeas After Aedpa: Time For The Supreme Court To Act, Joseph L. Hoffmann
Innocence And Federal Habeas After Aedpa: Time For The Supreme Court To Act, Joseph L. Hoffmann
Articles by Maurer Faculty
No abstract provided.
False Justice And The “True” Prosecutor: A Memoir, Tribute, And Commentary, Mark A. Godsey
False Justice And The “True” Prosecutor: A Memoir, Tribute, And Commentary, Mark A. Godsey
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
This article is a review of False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent by Jim and Nancy Petro. But this article is also a memoir, in that I tell the story, from my own perspective as Director of the Ohio Innocence Project, of how I have watched Jim Petro go from prosecutor and elected Attorney General of Ohio to a leading champion of the wrongfully convicted across the nation. The article is also a commentary in that, along the way, I address what makes Jim Petro so different from many prosecutors in this country. In this respect, I discuss …
False Convictions, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Samuel R. Gross
False Convictions, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Samuel R. Gross
Book Chapters
False convictions have received a lot of attention in recent years. Two-hundred and forty-one prisoners have been released after DNA testing has proved their innocence, and hundreds of others have been released without DNA evidence. We now know quite a bit more about false convictions than we did thirty years ago - but there is much more that we do not know, and may never know.
The Innocence Effect, Avishalom Tor, Oren Gazal-Ayal
The Innocence Effect, Avishalom Tor, Oren Gazal-Ayal
Journal Articles
Nearly all felony convictions - about 95 percent - follow guilty pleas, suggesting that plea offers are very attractive to defendants compared to trials. Some scholars argue that plea bargains are too attractive and should be curtailed because they facilitate the wrongful conviction of innocents. Others contend that plea bargains only benefit innocent defendants, providing an alternative to the risk of a harsher sentence at trial. Hence, even while heatedly disputing their desirability, both camps in the debate believe that plea bargains commonly lead innocents to plead guilty. This Article shows, however, that the belief that innocents routinely plead guilty …
The Practice Of Criminal Defence: Why We Fight And Defend Those Most Imperilled, Every Day, Beau James Brock
The Practice Of Criminal Defence: Why We Fight And Defend Those Most Imperilled, Every Day, Beau James Brock
Beau James Brock
Being a criminal defense attorney is a special calling. Aside from dealing with the human element, they also fight daily to see the government acts within the bounds established by the Bill of Rights.