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Full-Text Articles in Law
Stories That Kill: Masculinity And Capital Prosecutors' Closing Arguments, Pamela A. Wilkins
Stories That Kill: Masculinity And Capital Prosecutors' Closing Arguments, Pamela A. Wilkins
Cleveland State Law Review
The American death penalty is a punishment by, for, and about men: Both historically and today, most capital prosecutors are men, most capital defendants are men, and killing itself is strongly coded male. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—the overwhelming maleness of the institution of capital punishment, the subject of masculinity is largely absent from legal discourse about the death penalty. This Article addresses that gap in the legal discourse by applying the insights of masculinities theory, an offshoot of feminist theory, to capital prosecutors’ closing arguments. This Article hypothesizes that capital prosecutors’ masculinity is strongly influenced both by white Southern …
The Marriage Of State Law And Individual Rights And A New Limit On The Federal Death Penalty, Jonathan Ross
The Marriage Of State Law And Individual Rights And A New Limit On The Federal Death Penalty, Jonathan Ross
Cleveland State Law Review
Since the 1990s, federal prosecutors have, with increasing frequency, sought the death penalty for federal offenses committed in and also punishable under the laws of non-death penalty states. Critics of this practice have pointed out that federal prosecutors can use the federal death penalty to circumvent a state's abolition of capital punishment. Courts, however, have almost unanimously rejected arguments that state law should be a shield from federal punishment for federal offenses. This article proposes a novel way to challenge the federal death penalty's use in a non-death penalty state—the Supreme Court's reasoning in United States v. Windsor. In Windsor, …
The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor––Capital Punishment: Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe
The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor––Capital Punishment: Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe
Cleveland State Law Review
No abstract provided.
Inconsistent Methods For The Adjudication Of Alleged Mentally Retarded Individuals: A Comparison Of Ohio's And Georgia's Post-Atkins Frameworks For Determining Mental Retardation, Scott R. Poe
Cleveland State Law Review
This Note compares Ohio's and Georgia's post-Atkins frameworks for determining mental retardation. Ohio's framework offers a fairer application of Atkins and should serve as a guide for a national legal standard for use by state trial courts to determine mental retardation. Specifically, Ohio's use of preponderance of the evidence is a more appropriate standard of proof for determining mental retardation because it better reaches the overall goal in Atkins. Allowing the judge to make the mental retardation determination protects the alleged mentally retarded defendant from potential jury bias. Because Ohio's and Georgia's definitions of mental retardation are substantially similar and …
Nothing Less Than The Dignity Of Man: Evolving Standards, Botched Executions And Utah's Controversial Use Of The Firing Squad , Christopher Q. Cutler
Nothing Less Than The Dignity Of Man: Evolving Standards, Botched Executions And Utah's Controversial Use Of The Firing Squad , Christopher Q. Cutler
Cleveland State Law Review
While outrage boils to the surface when Utah uses its firing squad option, there is little substantive legal development concerning the firing squad's use. Few cases have challenged the firing squad's constitutionality. This article discusses the legal and political implications of the firing squad. Using the Supreme Court's everdeveloping Eighth Amendment jurisprudence as a guide, this article discusses whether the firing squad, both historically and in its present application, passes constitutional muster. Beyond those factors that trigger constitutional protection, this article discusses those elements of the firing squad's use which define society's humanity and demonstrate our dignity. In the end, …
The Right To Kill In Cold Blood: Does The Death Penalty Violate Human Rights, Alan Ryan
The Right To Kill In Cold Blood: Does The Death Penalty Violate Human Rights, Alan Ryan
Cleveland State Law Review
The essence of the argument is this: all punishment must be inflicted in cold blood; whatever damage we do to others not in cold blood is not punishment but self-defense or revenge; what we have a right to inflict in cold blood is a question of the rules of just social cooperation and especially the justice of the sanctions required to sustain those rules; it is here argued that the fundamental principle is that we may inflict whatever punishment is necessary to deter wrongdoing and not disproportionate to the offence; I do not dismiss 'pure' retribution as a goal of …
Life, Death And The Law - And Why Capital Punishment Is Legally Insupportable , Peter Fitzpatrick
Life, Death And The Law - And Why Capital Punishment Is Legally Insupportable , Peter Fitzpatrick
Cleveland State Law Review
Given that law has an integral commitment to life, in this lecture I want to show how the law should manifest something of a fundamental dissonance, even a terminal incoherence, when law is called upon to deal death. That is what happens in the judicial discourse on the death penalty in the United States. I will approach this demonstration in a way that may at first seem paradoxical, in a way that will bring out the deep affinity between law and death. That affinity is one in which death is, in a sense, the limit of law; a limit that …
Jury Waiver In Capital Cases: An Assessment Of The Voluntary, Knowing, And Intelligent Standard, Paul Mancino Iii
Jury Waiver In Capital Cases: An Assessment Of The Voluntary, Knowing, And Intelligent Standard, Paul Mancino Iii
Cleveland State Law Review
This Note analyzes both the federal and various state standards as to what constitutes a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of trial by jury in capital cases. Through this analysis it will become apparent that the various standards among the different jurisdictions of a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver are marked with disparity. This Note also argues that the jury waiver statutes in many jurisdictions fail to provide enough information for the capital defendant to make a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of the right to trial by jury while cognizant of the relevant circumstances and likely consequences. This deficiency …
Some Legislative History And Comments On Ohio's New Criminal Code , Harry J. Lehman, Alan E. Norris
Some Legislative History And Comments On Ohio's New Criminal Code , Harry J. Lehman, Alan E. Norris
Cleveland State Law Review
Having briefly outlined the history of the formal development of the Act, it is the purpose of this Article to discuss in narrative form the legislative process on certain key provisions which were the subject of much debate and disagreement. These areas of disagreement include murder and felony penalties, especially minimum sentences; capital punishment to conform to the U.S. Supreme Court's Furman decision as well as other changes; parole eligibility for those serving life sentences for a capital offense; early release on parole, also known as shock parole; eligibility for probation; definition of reasonable doubt and jury instructions on reasonable …
The Response To Furman: Can Legislators Breathe Life Back Into Death, Carol Irvin, Howard E. Rose
The Response To Furman: Can Legislators Breathe Life Back Into Death, Carol Irvin, Howard E. Rose
Cleveland State Law Review
In the eighteen months since the Supreme Court of the United States struck down capital punishment in Furman v. Georgia twenty-three states have reinstated the death penalty. While the Supreme Court has not yet heard arguments concerning the constitutionality of these statutes, their validity will determine the fate of the forty-four persons currently awaiting execution in eight states. It is the purpose of this comment to consider the statutes reinstating capital punishment, in light of Furman.
Should Ohio Abolish Capital Punishment, Richard J. Goetz
Should Ohio Abolish Capital Punishment, Richard J. Goetz
Cleveland State Law Review
In view of all the controversy surrounding this topic, it is interesting to review the history of the death penalty in Ohio, in other states, and elsewhere in the world.