Law Commons^™

The Supreme Court's Backwards Proportionaility Jurisprudence: Comparing Judicial Review Of Excessive Criminal Punishments And Excessive Punitive Damages Award, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Briefing Paper On Problems In Redefining "Loss" (U.S. Sentencing Commission Economic Crime Symposium), Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

On October 12-13, 2000, the U.S. Sentencing Commission sponsored its Third Symposium On Crime and Punishment in the United States: Federal Sentencing Policy for Economic Crimes and New Technology Offenses. The afternoon of the first day of the meeting was devoted to discussing the concept of “loss” as a measurement of defendant culpability and offense seriousness. The conferees were divided into small groups to discuss discrete sub-issues relating to “loss” and its place in sentencing economic crimes under the Guidelines. Following the small group discussions, the discussion leaders (“facilitators”) addressed a plenary session of the conference to report on the …

Testing Lay Intuitions Of Justice: How And Why?, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

When John Darley and I wrote Justice, Liability, and Blame: Community Views and the Criminal Law, our goal was not to provide the definitive account of lay intuitions of justice but rather to stimulate interest in what we saw as an important but long-term project that would require the work of many people. Having this American Association of Law Schools program is itself something toward that end and for that we thank Christopher Slobogin and Cheryl Hanna. In this brief introduction to the Symposium, let me set the stage by doing four things. Part I of this Article summarizes the …

A Strategy For Mercy, Robert L. Misner

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dead End Of Deterrence, And Beyond, Kyron Huigens

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crimes And Offenses Crimes Against The Person: Amend Punishment For Any Person Who Commits The Offense Of Simple Battery Or Battery Against A Sports Official Of An Amateur Contest, David Brown

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act changes two sections of the Georgia Code to impose more severe penalties on individuals convicted of battery against a sports official. The Act makes battery of an amateur sports official a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.

Groups Protected By The Genocide Convention: Conflicting Interpretations From The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda, William A. Schabas

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide' protects "national, ethnical, racial and religious" groups from intentional physical destruction.

Continuing Payment Of One's Debt To Society: The German Model Of Felon Disenfranchisement As An Alternative, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Transitional Justice, Ruiti G. Teitel

Books

Ruti Teitel explores the ways in which a society should respond to evil rule. This is an insightful analysis of one of the most fundamental political science issues of our times - how the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere should deal with the legal systems inherited from their authoritarian pasts.

Should the past system be repudiated altogether? Should the leaders from the authoritarian period be punished? If so, how? Under what principles of law would punishment be justified, given that the leaders were, in general, acting legally according to the legal systems in effect at the time? This …

Teshuva: A Look At Repentance, Forgiveness And Atonement In Jewish Law And Philosophy And American Legal Thought, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

Professor Levine examines the atonement model and its relevance to American law. He outlines and explains the necessary steps by the wrongdoer for atonement: repentance, apology, reparation and penance. The wronged party then has the obligation of reconciliation for the process to be complete. Despite the prominent position it has held for millennia in religious thinking, the atonement model is relatively new to American legal theory. Professor Stephen Garvey's attempt to offer a systematic depiction and analysis of the process of atonement and its possible relevance to American law appears to represent the most extensive effort to date. Any application …

Framed: Utilitarianism And Punishment Of The Innocent, Guyora Binder, Nicholas J. Smith

Journal Articles

This paper is a defense of utilitarian penology, against the familiar retributivist charge that it promotes framing the innocent, and other charges similarly depending on the notion that utilitarianism encourages officials to deceive the public. Our defense proceeds from the striking fact that utilitarianism's critics do not cite textual evidence that the originators of utilitarian penology in fact endorsed punishing the innocent or deceiving the public. Instead, critics claim that these unsavory policies follow logically from the premises of utilitarianism. Our argument, in brief, is that the charge of framing the innocent rests on a misunderstanding of utilitarian penology. We …

Rethinking The Penalty Phase, Kyron Huigens

Articles

This article argues that the chaos of the US Supreme Court’s death penalty jurisprudence can be sorted with the use of a single point of clarification. That jurisprudence uses the term “culpability” – and similar terms, such as desert, responsibility, and blameworthiness – without regard to a critical ambiguity. We use “culpability” to refer to fault in wrongdoing, as reflected in “culpability elements” such as purpose or recklessness. We also use culpability to refer to eligibility for punishment, which is at issue in the defenses of insanity or minority. Death sentencing is structured around aggravating and mitigating factors, but aggravation …

Toward The Restorative Constitution: A Restorative Justice Critique Of Anti-Gang Public Nuisance Injunctions, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

Gang members from elsewhere congregated on lawns, on sidewalks, and in front of apartment complexes at all hours. They displayed a casual contempt for notions of law, order, and decency -- openly drinking, smoking dope, sniffing toluene, and even snorting cocaine laid out in neat lines on the hoods of residents' cars. San Jose prosecutors responded by obtaining and enforcing a broad injunction against the gangs and their members, based on the finding that the gangs' activities constituted a public nuisance. California prosecutors have sought such anti-gang public nuisance injunctions since 1987. Their constitutionality was in doubt for ten years …

Weak Legs: Misbehavior Before The Enemy, William I. Miller

Articles

Making cowardice a capital offense strikes us as a kind of barbaric survival from a rougher age, a time, that is, when few doubted that courage ranked higher than pity or prudence in the scale of virtues. And if many of us today believe that capital punishment cannot be justified even for the sadistic torturer, what a shock to discover that, as an official matter at least, Congress reserves it for the person who cannot kill at all.

Creative Sanctions For Discovery Abuse In Texas., Travis C. Headley

St. Mary's Law Journal

Creative sanctions are necessary to deter litigants from abusing the discovery process. Under both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, creative sanctions are allowed and within a judge’s discretion. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 215 provide judges a non-exhaustive list of available sanctions to deter abusive discovery practices. Nonetheless, discovery abuse has continued to escalate, and limited precedence exists in the field despite the increased use of sanctions. An unprecedented creative sanction was imposed by Judge Brotman of the District Court for the Virgin Islands. On …

Forgiveness And The Criminal Law: Forgiveness Through Medicinal Punishment, Dennis M. Cariello

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the role of forgiveness in criminal law, focusing specifically on the nature of forgiveness, how and when society should forgive wrongdoers, and the nature of punishment.

Teshuva: A Look At Repentance, Forgiveness And Atonement In Jewish Law And Philosophy And American Legal Thought, Samuel J. Levine

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A discussion of the Jewish concept of "Teshuva," which provides the possibility of atonement for wrongdoings. The article explores the process of "Teshuva" in depth and describes its relationship and significance to modern criminal law.

Teshuva: A Look At Repentance, Forgiveness And Atonement In Jewish Law And Philosophy And American Legal Thought, Samuel J. Levine

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A discussion of the Jewish concept of "Teshuva," which provides the possibility of atonement for wrongdoings. The article explores the process of "Teshuva" in depth and describes its relationship and significance to modern criminal law.

Forgiveness And The Criminal Law: Forgiveness Through Medicinal Punishment, Dennis M. Cariello

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the role of forgiveness in criminal law, focusing specifically on the nature of forgiveness, how and when society should forgive wrongdoers, and the nature of punishment.