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Articles 1 - 30 of 42
Full-Text Articles in Law
Notice-And-Comment Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
Notice-And-Comment Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Reflections And Perspectives On Reentry And Collateral Consequences, Michael Pinard
Reflections And Perspectives On Reentry And Collateral Consequences, Michael Pinard
Michael Pinard
This essay addresses the continued and dramatic increase in the numbers of individuals released from correctional institutions and returning to communities across the United States. It provides a brief history of the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, and the ways in which these consequences impede productive reentry. It then highlights national and state efforts to address to persistent reentry obstacles and to better understand the range and scope of collateral consequences. It concludes by offering suggestions for reform.
Psychopathy And Culpability: How Responsible Is The Psychopath For Criminal Wrongdoing?, Reid G. Fontaine Jd, Phd
Psychopathy And Culpability: How Responsible Is The Psychopath For Criminal Wrongdoing?, Reid G. Fontaine Jd, Phd
Reid G. Fontaine
Recent research into the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of psychopathy has raised the question of whether, or to what degree, psychopaths should be considered morally and criminally responsible for their actions. In this article we review the current empirical literature on psychopathy, focusing particularly on deficits in moral reasoning, and consider several potential conclusions that could be drawn based on this evidence. Our analysis of the empirical evidence on psychopathy suggests that while psychopaths do not meet the criteria for full criminal responsibility, they nonetheless retain some criminal responsibility. We conclude, by introducing the notion of rights as correlative, that …
Punishment As Contract, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
Punishment As Contract, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
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This paper provides a sketch of a contractarian approach to punishment, according to a version of contractarianism one might call “rational contractarianism,” by contrast with the normative contractarianism of John Rawls. Rational contractarianism suggests a model according to which rational agents, with maximal, rather than minimal, knowledge of their life circumstances, would agree to the outlines of a particular social institution or set of social institutions because they view themselves as faring best in such a society governed by such institutions, as compared with a society governed by different institutional schemes available for adoption. Applied to the institution of punishment, …
Two Cheers, Not Three For Sixth Amendment Originalism, Stephanos Bibas
Two Cheers, Not Three For Sixth Amendment Originalism, Stephanos Bibas
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No abstract provided.
The Myth Of The Fully Informed Rational Actor, Stephanos Bibas
The Myth Of The Fully Informed Rational Actor, Stephanos Bibas
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No abstract provided.
New Perspectives On Brady And Other Disclosure Obligations: Report Of The Working Groups On Best Practices, Stephanos Bibas, Jennifer Blasser, Keith A. Findley, Ronald F. Wright, Jennifer E. Laurin, Cookie Ridolfi
New Perspectives On Brady And Other Disclosure Obligations: Report Of The Working Groups On Best Practices, Stephanos Bibas, Jennifer Blasser, Keith A. Findley, Ronald F. Wright, Jennifer E. Laurin, Cookie Ridolfi
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Greatest Legal Movie Of All Time: Proclaiming The Real Winner, Grant H. Morris
The Greatest Legal Movie Of All Time: Proclaiming The Real Winner, Grant H. Morris
Grant H Morris
In August, 2008, the ABA Journal featured an article entitled: “The 25 Greatest Legal Movies.” A panel of experts, described in the article as “12 prominent lawyers who teach film or are connected to the business” selected “the best movies ever made about lawyers and the law.” This distinguished panel ranked its twenty-five top legal movies, choosing To Kill a Mockingbird as its number one legal movie. The panel also selected twenty-five films as “honorable mentions,” which were listed in alphabetical order. In my opinion, however, the real greatest legal movie of all time was not selected as the winner. …
In Self-Defense Regarding Self-Defense: A Rejoinder To Professor Corrado, Reid G. Fontaine
In Self-Defense Regarding Self-Defense: A Rejoinder To Professor Corrado, Reid G. Fontaine
Reid G. Fontaine
This is a rejoinder to Professor Corrado in the upcoming special section of the American Criminal Law Review on the nature, structure, and function of self-defense and defense of others law.
International Idealism Meets Domestic-Criminal-Procedure Realism, Stephanos Bibas, William W. Burke-White
International Idealism Meets Domestic-Criminal-Procedure Realism, Stephanos Bibas, William W. Burke-White
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Though international criminal justice has developed into a flourishing judicial system over the last two decades, scholars have neglected institutional design and procedure questions. International criminal-procedure scholarship has developed in isolation from its domestic counterpart but could learn much realism from it. Given its current focus on atrocities like genocide, international criminal law’s main purpose should be not only to inflict retribution, but also to restore wounded communities by bringing the truth to light. The international justice system needs more ideological balance, more stable career paths, and civil-service expertise. It also needs to draw on the domestic experience of federalism …
Pro-Prosecution Judges: "Tough On Crime," Soft On Strategy, Ripe For Disqualification, Keith Swisher
Pro-Prosecution Judges: "Tough On Crime," Soft On Strategy, Ripe For Disqualification, Keith Swisher
Keith Swisher
In this Article, I take the most extensive look to date at pro-prosecution judges and ultimately advance the following, slightly scandalous claim: Particularly in our post-Caperton, political-realist world, “tough on crime” elective judges should recuse themselves from all criminal cases. The contextual parts to this claim are, in the main, a threefold description: (i) the "groundbreaking" Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal decision, its predecessors, and its progeny; (ii) the judicial ethics of disqualification; and (iii) empirical and anecdotal evidence of pro-prosecution (commonly called "tough on crime") campaigns and attendant electoral pressures. Building on this description and the work of empiricists, …
On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held
On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held
Reid G. Fontaine
A “cultural defense” to criminal culpability cannot achieve true pluralism without collapsing into a totally subjective, personal standard. Applying an objective cultural standard does not rescue a defendant from the external imposition of values—the purported aim of the cultural defense—because a cultural standard is, at its core, an external standard imposed onto an individual. The pluralist argument for a cultural defense also fails on its own terms—after all, justice systems are themselves cultural institutions. Furthermore, a defendant’s background is already accounted for at sentencing. The closest thing to a cultural defense that a court could adopt without damaging the culpability …
The Bridge Connecting Pontius Pilate's Sentencing Of Jesus To The New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission's Concerns Over Executing The Innocent: When Human Beings With Human Flaws Determine Guilt Or Innocence And Life Or Death, James B. Johnston
James B Johnston
No abstract provided.
Prosecuting Domestic Violence: A Philosophical Analysis, Michelle Dempsey
Prosecuting Domestic Violence: A Philosophical Analysis, Michelle Dempsey
Michelle Madden Dempsey
The main question which motivates the inquiry undertaken in this book is: what should public prosecutors do when victims withdraw support for domestic violence prosecutions? The answer defended herein can be summarized as follows: within the realm of justified (permissible) action, prosecutors should respond effectively; which is to say that, ceteris paribus, domestic-violence prosecutors should respond as feminists. This claim is intended as a provocative formulation of the proposition that domestic violence prosecutors should act for reasons generated by the value of reconstituting their states (and communities) as less patriarchal. This book defends that claim in two steps: first, it …
Prosecutors And Evidence-Based Sentencing: Rewards, Risks, And Responsibilities, Steven Chanenson
Prosecutors And Evidence-Based Sentencing: Rewards, Risks, And Responsibilities, Steven Chanenson
Steven L. Chanenson
No abstract provided.
Contrived Defenses And Deterrent Threats: Two Facets Of One Problem, Claire Oakes Finkelstein, Leo Katz
Contrived Defenses And Deterrent Threats: Two Facets Of One Problem, Claire Oakes Finkelstein, Leo Katz
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What relation do the various parts of a plan bear to the overall aim of the plan? In this essay we consider this question in the context of two very different problems in the criminal law. The first, known in the German criminal law literature as the Actio Libera in Causa, involves defendants who contrive to commit crimes under conditions that would normally afford them a justification or excuse. The question is whether such defendants should be allowed to claim the defense when the defense is itself either contrived or anticipated in advance. The second is what we call the …
The Sixth Amendment And Criminal Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Susan R. Klein
The Sixth Amendment And Criminal Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas, Susan R. Klein
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This symposium essay explores the impact of Rita, Gall, and Kimbrough on state and federal sentencing and plea bargaining systems. The Court continues to try to explain how the Sixth Amendment jury trial right limits legislative and judicial control of criminal sentencing. Equally important, the opposing sides in this debate have begun to form a stable consensus. These decisions inject more uncertainty in the process and free trial judges to counterbalance prosecutors. Thus, we predict, these decisions will move the balance of plea bargaining power back toward criminal defendants.
Undermining Individual And Collective Citizenship: The Impact Of Felon Exclusion Laws On The African-American Community, S. David Mitchell
Undermining Individual And Collective Citizenship: The Impact Of Felon Exclusion Laws On The African-American Community, S. David Mitchell
S. David Mitchell
Felon exclusion laws are jurisdiction-specific, post-conviction statutory restrictions that prohibit convicted felons from exercising a host of legal rights, most notably the right to vote. The professed intent of these laws is to punish convicted felons equally without regard for the demographic characteristics of each individual, including race, class, or gender. Felon exclusion laws, however, have a disproportionate impact on African-American males and, by extension, on the residential communities from which many convicted felons come. Thus, felon exclusion laws not only relegate African-American convicted felons to a position of second-class citizenship, but the laws also diminish the collective citizenship of …
Forgiveness In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
Forgiveness In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
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Though forgiveness and mercy matter greatly in social life, they play fairly small roles in criminal procedure. Criminal procedure is dominated by the state, whose interests in deterring, incapacitating, and inflicting retribution leave little room for mercy. An alternative system, however, would focus more on the needs of human participants. Victim-offender mediation, sentencing discounts, and other mechanisms could encourage offenders to express remorse, victims to forgive, and communities to reintegrate and employ offenders. All of these actors could then better heal, reconcile, and get on with their lives. Forgiveness and mercy are not panaceas: not all offenders and victims would …
Drugs, Dogs And The Fourth Amendment: An Analysis Of Justice Stevens' Opinion In Illinois V. Caballes, James Johnston
Drugs, Dogs And The Fourth Amendment: An Analysis Of Justice Stevens' Opinion In Illinois V. Caballes, James Johnston
James B Johnston
When a drug dealer delivers illegal narcotics to the American maret place, he frequently uses out nation's roads. In an opinion authored by Justice John Paul Stevens, the U.S. Supreme Court that is captioned Illinois v. Caballes, the Court ruloed that drug dealers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when delivering illegal drugs in their cars. This article agrees with the Court's ruling and argues that we as a society have a right and an obligatio n to protect ourselves from drug abuse and drug traffickers. Justice Stevens' opinionj provides a brilliant examination of judicial precedent coupled with …
Responsibility For Unintended Consequences, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
Responsibility For Unintended Consequences, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
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The appropriateness of imposing criminal liability for negligent conduct has been the subject of debate among criminal law scholars for many years. Ever since H.L.A. Hart’s defense of criminal negligence, the prevailing view has favored its use. In this essay, I nevertheless argue against criminal negligence, on the ground that criminal liability should only be imposed where the defendant was aware he was engaging in the prohibited conduct, or where he was aware of risking such conduct or result. My argument relies on the claim that criminal liability should resemble judgments of responsibility in ordinary morality as closely as possible. …
Truth Machines And Consequences: The Light And Dark Sides Of 'Accuracy' In Criminal Justice, Seth F. Kreimer
Truth Machines And Consequences: The Light And Dark Sides Of 'Accuracy' In Criminal Justice, Seth F. Kreimer
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No abstract provided.
Plea Bargaining Outside The Shadow Of Trial, Stephanos Bibas
Plea Bargaining Outside The Shadow Of Trial, Stephanos Bibas
All Faculty Scholarship
Plea-bargaining literature predicts that parties strike plea bargains in the shadow of expected trial outcomes. In other words, parties forecast the expected sentence after trial, discount it by the probability of acquittal, and offer some proportional discount. This oversimplified model ignores how structural distortions skew bargaining outcomes. Agency costs; attorney competence, compensation, and workloads; resources; sentencing and bail rules; and information deficits all skew bargaining. In addition, psychological biases and heuristics warp judgments: overconfidence, denial, discounting, risk preferences, loss aversion, framing, and anchoring all affect bargaining decisions. Skilled lawyers can partly counteract some of these problems but sometimes overcompensate. The …
Pleas' Progress, Stephanos Bibas
The Psychology Of Hindsight And After-The-Fact Review Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Stephanos Bibas
The Psychology Of Hindsight And After-The-Fact Review Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Stephanos Bibas
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Integrating Remorse And Apology Into Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
Integrating Remorse And Apology Into Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Feeney Amendment And The Continuing Rise Of Prosecutorial Power To Plea Bargain, Stephanos Bibas
The Feeney Amendment And The Continuing Rise Of Prosecutorial Power To Plea Bargain, Stephanos Bibas
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
The Real-World Shift In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
The Real-World Shift In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
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No abstract provided.
Apprendi In The States: The Virtues Of Federalism As A Structural Limit On Errors, Stephanos Bibas
Apprendi In The States: The Virtues Of Federalism As A Structural Limit On Errors, Stephanos Bibas
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No abstract provided.
Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal Law-Values And Criminal Procedure: The Case Of Alford And Nolo Contendere Pleas, Stephanos Bibas
Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal Law-Values And Criminal Procedure: The Case Of Alford And Nolo Contendere Pleas, Stephanos Bibas
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.