Criminal Law Commons^™

Mental Health And Incarceration: What A Bad Combination, Olinda Moyd

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The District of Columbia has one of the highest per capita incarceration and criminal justice supervision rates in the United States1 and among the highest in the world. The local prison population has risen dramatically over the past decade for a variety of reasons including increased rates of re-incarceration for parole violations and the imposition of longer sentences for drug offenses. Recent acts of Congress have seriously impacted the sentencing laws in the District including determination of where persons sentenced for violating local D.C. laws will serve such sentences. On August 5, 1997, President Clinton signed into law The National …

Punishment, Proportionality, And Jurisdictional Transfer Of Adolescent Offenders: A Test Of The Leniency Gap Hypothesis, Aaron Kupchik, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Akiva Liberman

Faculty Scholarship

In the past two decades, nearly every state has expanded its authority and simplified its procedures to transfer adolescent offenders from juvenile to criminal (adult) courts. As a result, the use of jurisdictional transfer has grown steadily. These developments reflect popular and political concerns that punishment in juvenile courts is too lenient for serious crimes committed by adolescents. Yet there is mixed evidence that expanded transfer authority has produced more certain or severe punishments for adolescents prosecuted in criminal courts. Some empirical studies show that adolescents transferred to criminal court are more likely to be convicted, sentenced to prison, and …

A Moving Violation? Hypercriminalized Spaces And Fortuitous Presence In Drug Free School Zones, L. Buckner Inniss

Publications

No abstract provided.

Unprincipled Punishment: The U.S. Sentencing Commission's Troubling Silence About The Purposes Of Punishment, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Healer Or An Executioner: The Proper Role Of A Psychiatrist In A Criminal Justice System, Gregory Dolin

All Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that despite the benefits of ridding the criminal justice system of some uncertainty and ignorance with respect to mental health issues, the very close involvement of psychiatrists in the criminal justice system as practiced in the United States is not only illogical and bad policy, but also unethical from the viewpoint of medical ethics. Part II of this article will lay the groundwork for the argument by discussing the history of the insanity defense, and of science's involvement with criminal justice; while Part III, will look into the association of science and the administration of justice in …

The Andrea Yates Trial: What Is Wrong With This Picture?, Marie Galanti

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critically examines the Andrea Yates trial, arguing that it highlights significant flaws in the legal system, media coverage, and societal attitudes toward mental illness and gender roles. The trial underscores the ambiguity in legal definitions of insanity, the unequal treatment of mothers who commit infanticide, and the problematic intersection of law and media, which can undermine justice and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. The case serves as a cautionary tale about the failure of the legal system to address mental health adequately and the media's role in sensationalizing tragedy for public consumption.

From A Biopolitical Point Of View: Nietzsche's Philosophy Of Crime, Friedrich Balke

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dialectic And Revolution: Confronting Kelsen And Gadamer On Legal Interpretation, Hans Lindahl

Cardozo Law Review

This paper examines the general structure and conditions of legal interpretation that arise from confronting Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics with a determinate conception of legal interpretation suggested by Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law. The Gadamerian question, "What defines legal interpretation as interpretation?", suggests that Kelsen's reference to legal norms as "schemes of interpretation" must be radicalized: a hermeneutic circularity or dialectic is at work in the law, such that the legal interpretation of reality also changes, to a lesser or greater extent, the principle of interpretation - the legal norm. The Kelsenian question, "What defines interpretation as legal interpretation?", suggests …

Screening Versus Plea Bargaining: Exactly What Are We Trading Off?, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

I was delighted to be invited to comment on Ronald Wright and Marc Miller's important and instructive article, The Screening/Bargaining Tradeoff. Those familiar with the authors' work, including their original and fascinating criminal procedure casebook, will be unsurprised by many of the article's virtues, including a focus on empirical examination of real-world practice and (perhaps a special case of that more general virtue) attention to practices at the state and local level, where most criminal law enforcement actually occurs. Wright and Miller develop some interesting insights into the potential for changes in plea bargaining practices that have frequently been …

Einstein On The Bench?: Exposing What Judges Do Not Know About Science And Using Child Abuse Cases To Improve How Courts Evaluate Scientific Evidence, Joelle A. Moreno

Faculty Publications

It has been a decade since the Supreme Court made judges the arbiters of scientific validity through Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Although this decision was intended to improve how courts use science, recent empirical evidence reveals that judges continue to struggle with scientific evidence and that Daubert has failed to yield accurate or consistent decisions. This also means that judges have received little useful guidance from ten years of academic literature expounding on the science-law chasm.

If the academic discourse is not helpful, it may be because non-scientists too often try to tame science by treating it as …

Summary Of Hathaway V. State, Melanie Koep

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Proper person appeal from an order of the Eighth Judicial District Court, Honorable John S. McGroarty, denying appellant’s post-conviction petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Summary Of Mack V. State, Kristen L. Gallagher

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A neighbor found Betty May murdered in her room at a boarding house. An autopsy determined that May died by strangulation and suffered a traumatic sexual penetration just prior to her death. Semen and blood samples were taken from May’s body and clothing at the time of her death, and after twelve years passed, a detective ordered DNA testing of the evidence. Defendant Daryl Linnie Mack was charged with the first-degree murder of Betty May. Law enforcement obtained a blood and saliva sample from Mack at two different times during the investigation. Both the semen and the blood stains matched …

Summary Of State V. Gameros-Perez, Mike Feliciano

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Jose Simon Gameros-Perez and Isidro Benitez-Medina, Respondents, were believed to be in possession of illegal narcotics and paraphernalia in their apartment. The Washoe County Sheriff telephonically applied for and obtained a warrant to search the respondents’ apartment pursuant to NRS 179.045(2). The magistrate issued the warrant based on sworn oral statements that were later transcribed. The warrant contained a statement that probable cause existed to believe the respondents were in possession of illegal narcotics and paraphernalia. It did not, however, contain an actual recitation of the probable cause for the search. Upon execution of the warrant, heroin was found in …

Rethinking The Death Penalty: Can We Define Who Deserves Death – A Symposium Held At The Association Of The Bar Of The City Of New York May 22, 2002, Martin J. Leahy, Norman L. Greene, Robert Blecker, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier, William M. Erlbaum, David Von Drehle, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

In light of the defects of the capital punishment system and recent calls for a moratorium on executions, many are calling for serious reform of the system. Even some who would not eliminate the death penalty entirely propose reforms that they contend would result in fewer executions and would limit the death penalty to a category that they call the "worst of the worst." This program asks the question: Is there a category of defendants who are the "worst of the worst?" Can a crime be so heinous that a defendant can be said to "deserve" to be executed? Would …

Atkins, Adolescence, And The Maturity Heuristic: Rationales For A Categorical Exemption For Juveniles From Capital Punishment, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

In Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court voted six to three to bar further use of the death penalty for mentally retarded offenders. The Court offered three reasons for banning the execution of the retarded. First, citing a shift in public opinion over the thirteen years since Penry v. Lynaugh, the Court in Atkins ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded is "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. Second, the Court concluded that retaining the death penalty for the mentally retarded would not serve the interest in retribution or deterrence that is essential to capital …

A Few Reflections On The Model Penal Code Commentaries, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

When Deborah Denno invited me to participate in the panel of the Association of American Law Schools discussing possible revision of the Model Penal Code, I initially declined, not having taught criminal law for more than two decades and having written only sporadically in the field. Professor Denno urged that as one involved in the revision of the Commentary, I might nonetheless have something to contribute. In these reflections, as at the session, I have mainly restricted myself to the relationship between the final commentary and the Code itself.

As Gerard Lynch's essay explains, the Model Penal Code was the …

The Evolution Of The United Nations Position On Terrorism: From Exempting National Liberation Movements To Criminalizing Terrorism Wherever And By Whomever Committed, Malvina Halberstam

Articles

No abstract provided.

Unpatriotic Acts: An Introduction, Sadiq Reza

Faculty Scholarship

John Walker Lindh. Zacarias Moussaoui. Jose Padilla. Richard Reid. Who reading these lines does not instantly recognize the names of these men? Or at least their assigned noms de guerre: American Taliban, 20th hijacker, dirty bomber, shoe bomber. For two and a half years these names and others have flitted through our daily copies of The New York Times like shadow characters in a play, along with black-and-white photographs underneath which black-and-white text tells us of their alleged (and sometimes proven) wrongdoing and the latest developments in their tribulations (and sometimes trials) with our government. But the men themselves are …

Puppy Love: Bioterrorism, Civil Rights, And Public Health, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Florida has been the state humorists most like to make fun of since the 2000 presidential election, especially when it comes to politics. And humorists are almost the only commentators who can be counted on to tell us the truth about the state of American politics today. When Californians decided to recall their Governor, for example, Conan O'Brien observed: "Yesterday Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would run for governor of California. The announcement was good news for Florida residents, who now live in the second-flakiest state in the country."' And when more than 200 people filed to run for Governor, Jay …

Anger And Intent For Murder: The Supreme Court Decisions In R. V. Parent, Joanne Klineberg

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In R v. Parent, the Supreme Court of Canada recently held that intense anger alone is not, of itself, a defence to murder, although anger does play a role in reducing murder to manslaughter in connection with the defence of provocation. The Court's brief decision ignores twenty years of contrary jurisprudence and fails to provide detailed reasons for its conclusion, resulting in uncertainty about the scope and application of the decision. In this article, the author explores the relationship between anger and intent for murder, and outlines some possible arguments the Court could have relied on that would have provided …

Trends. The Paradise Hotel Bombing: Trouble In Judicial Paradise, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discussed the bombing of the Kenyan Hotel Paradise in November 2002, and the detention of suspects.

Are Police Free To Disregard Miranda?, Steven D. Clymer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

What Is And Is Not Pathological In Criminal Law, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Harris, Ring, And The Future Of Relevant Conduct Sentencing, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Julie E. Mcconnell, Gregory Franklin, Craig Winston Stallard

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Cure And Reinstatement Of Mortgages By Third Party Assignees, Arthur J. Margulies

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tailored Police Testimony At Suppression Hearings, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Whether a court must suppress evidence typically turns on the conduct or observations of the police officer who discovered the evidence. By falsely testifying to the facts surrounding the discovery of the evidence, a police officer may validate a blatantly unconstitutional search. New York courts have long recognized that police officers sometimes fabricate suppression testimony to meet constitutional restrictions. Indeed, the Appellate Division has rejected police testimony at suppression hearings where the officer’s testimony appears to have been “patently tailored to nullify constitutional objections.” Although, to be sure, rejections are rare and their number appears to be declining, the appellate …

Convictions Of Innocent Persons In Massachusetts: An Overview, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars documenting the incidence and causes of wrongful convictions in the United States have focused on cases arising all across the country. Because reform of the practices that lead to such errors of justice must largely take place on the state level, there is value in examining wrongful convictions in particular jurisdictions. This article attempts to identify and briefly describe all known cases of conviction of innocent persons in Massachusetts from 1800 to the present time. Part I discusses the criteria for identifying "the innocent." For the purpose of gaining support for needed reforms in the law, the most persuasive …

Section 8: Criminal Law & Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Productive Silence On Carl Schmitt: Constrained Ignorance Or Concluded Reappraisal? A Reply To Detlev F. Vagts, Carl Schmitt In Context: Reflections On A Symposium, Emanuel Richter

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.