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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Not So Speedy Trial Act, Shon Hopwood
The Not So Speedy Trial Act, Shon Hopwood
Washington Law Review
The Speedy Trial Act (STA) of 1974 occupies a peculiar place in the criminal justice system. Very few pieces of legislation can lay claim to protecting both the rights of criminal defendants and the public’s significant interest in timely justice, while reducing the cost of judicial administration. The STA formerly accomplished these lofty aims by reducing pretrial delays. But for the past two decades legal scholars have ignored the STA, and both prosecutors and defense attorneys have subverted the STA’s goals by routinely moving for continuances. And although the Act categorically applies in every federal criminal case, it has been …
Miller'S Promise: Re-Evaluating Extreme Criminal Sentences For Children, Nick Straley
Miller'S Promise: Re-Evaluating Extreme Criminal Sentences For Children, Nick Straley
Washington Law Review
Scientific, legal, and societal notions about youth have come together to reaffirm an age-old concept—children are different and they change as they grow older. In recent decisions, the United States Supreme Court has required courts and legislatures to take a new look at extreme criminal sentences imposed upon children. Life without parole sentences and decades-long, determinate sentences are constitutionally suspect when applied to children because they fail to adequately account for the dynamism of youth. Miller v. Alabama and Graham v. Florida announced two important principles: (1) that an extreme sentence can only be imposed upon a child following an …
Killing A Chicken To Scare The Monkey: The Unequal Administration Of Death In China, Jessica J. Shen
Killing A Chicken To Scare The Monkey: The Unequal Administration Of Death In China, Jessica J. Shen
Washington International Law Journal
China’s frequent usage of the death penalty in order to achieve deterrence of crime is well known to the international community; however, China also has a strong tradition of legal mercy stemming from imperial rule. In turn, imperial legal mercy originated from Confucian values of benevolence and humaneness. Although modern China emerged as a rejection of Imperial China’s Confucian hierarchal social structures, these cultural traditions have endured. For example, Confucianism’s humane influence can be seen in statutory and procedural mechanisms demonstrating benevolence towards criminals. However, only applying this benevolence to a select group of people betrays modern China’s statutory and …
Not-So-Harmless Error: A Higher Standard For Mitigation Errors On Capital Habeas Review, Ryan C. Thomas
Not-So-Harmless Error: A Higher Standard For Mitigation Errors On Capital Habeas Review, Ryan C. Thomas
Washington Law Review
This Comment looks at how federal courts handle mitigation errors during the penalty phase of capital punishment cases on habeas corpus review; it argues that the United States Supreme Court should expressly adopt the Chapman “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” standard rather than the Brecht “substantial and injurious effect” standard. The heightened stakes of capital sentencing dictate that a higher standard of review should apply. The Court has yet to rule on this matter, and the United States Courts of Appeals cannot agree upon which standard to apply. Currently, a lopsided circuit split exists regarding whether harmless error review applies …
Not-So-Harmless Error: A Higher Standard For Mitigation Errors On Capital Habeas Review, Ryan C. Thomas
Not-So-Harmless Error: A Higher Standard For Mitigation Errors On Capital Habeas Review, Ryan C. Thomas
Washington Law Review
This Comment looks at how federal courts handle mitigation errors during the penalty phase of capital punishment cases on habeas corpus review; it argues that the United States Supreme Court should expressly adopt the Chapman “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” standard rather than the Brecht “substantial and injurious effect” standard. The heightened stakes of capital sentencing dictate that a higher standard of review should apply. The Court has yet to rule on this matter, and the United States Courts of Appeals cannot agree upon which standard to apply. Currently, a lopsided circuit split exists regarding whether harmless error review applies …
Are Courts Phoning It In? Resolving Problematic Reasoning In The Debate Over Warrantless Searches Of Cell Phones Incident To Arrest, Derek A. Scheurer
Are Courts Phoning It In? Resolving Problematic Reasoning In The Debate Over Warrantless Searches Of Cell Phones Incident To Arrest, Derek A. Scheurer
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
In 1973, the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Robinson granted police broad authority to search arrestees’ personal property. Robinson’s broad rule has not been significantly limited and appears increasingly anachronistic in an age of rapidly advancing mobile technologies. Whether upholding or invalidating such searches, courts have relied on reasoning that ignores or conflicts with Robinson. This Article illustrates four problematic contrivances used by state and federal courts: (1) the comparison of mobile devices to “containers; (2) the misinterpretation of United States v. Chadwick’s concept of “property not immediately associated with the person;” (3) the …
Sentencing Court Discretion And The Confused Ban On Internet Bans, Matthew Fredrickson
Sentencing Court Discretion And The Confused Ban On Internet Bans, Matthew Fredrickson
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
In United States v. Wright, issued June 2013, the Sixth Circuit cited a supposed consensus among circuit courts that Internet bans are per se unreasonably broad sentences in electronic child pornography possession and distribution cases. This Article demonstrates that the Sixth Circuit’s claim of a consensus is mistaken. While some circuit courts of appeal have limited judicial sentencing discretion when it comes to imposing Internet bans, many more have not imposed this limit. Despite this lack of consensus, in cases where such bans are challenged, most courts make their decisions partly based on either the Internet’s pervasive importance in …
The Undersigned Attorney Hereby Certifies: Ensuring Reasonable Caseloads For Washington Defenders And Clients, Andrea Woods
The Undersigned Attorney Hereby Certifies: Ensuring Reasonable Caseloads For Washington Defenders And Clients, Andrea Woods
Washington Law Review
The Standards governing Washington’s public defenders represent a significant reform aimed at protecting an important constitutional right for our state’s vulnerable citizens. This Comment provides the necessary introduction to the Standards and addresses skepticism on the part of current practitioners and elected officials. Cooperation among defense attorneys, local governments, and the courts could ensure the Standards’ success and—in turn—a better system of public defense for attorneys and defendants alike. Part I of this Comment introduces the reader to the new Standards. Part II offers an overview of common critiques of the Washington State Supreme Court Standards that were voiced by …
Street Diversion And Decarceration, Mary Fan
Street Diversion And Decarceration, Mary Fan
Articles
States seeking more cost-effective approaches than imprisoning drug offenders have explored innovations such as drug courts and deferred prosecution. These treatment-based programs generally involve giving diversion discretion to prosecutors and judges, actors further down the criminal processing chain than police. The important vantage of police at the gateway of entry into the criminal system has been underutilized. [para] The article explores developing the capacity of police to take a public health approach to drug offending by engaging in street diversion to treatment rather than criminal processing. This approach entails giving police therapeutic discretion—the power to sort who gets treatment rather …
Citizen Participation: Appraising The Saiban’In System, Daniel H. Foote
Citizen Participation: Appraising The Saiban’In System, Daniel H. Foote
Articles
Of the many reforms affecting the Japanese judiciary that were undertaken in connection with the recommendations of the Justice System Reform Council, one reform above all attracted widespread public attention: the introduction of the so-called saiban'in system. In this system, mixed panels of professional judges and lay jurors judge guilt and assess penalties in serious criminal cases. Following a five-year preparation period, the new system went into effect for the specified categories of crimes for which indictments were issued on or after May 21, 2009, with the first trials under the new system commencing in August 2009. Pursuant to the …