Criminal Law Commons^™

The Deadly Paradox Of Capital Jurors, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen P. Garvey, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We examine support for the death penalty among a unique group of respondents: one hundred and eighty-seven citizens who actually served as jurors on capital trials in South Carolina. Capital jurors support the death penalty as much as, if not more than, members of the general public. Yet capital jurors, like poll respondents, harbor doubts about the penalty's fairness. Moreover, jurors--black jurors and Southern Baptists in particular--are ready to abandon their support for the death penalty when the alternative to death is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, especially when combined with a requirement of restitution. Support for the …

The Sporting Approach To Harmless Error: The Supreme Court's "No Harm, No Foul" Debacle In Neder V. United States, Linda Carter

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

White House Anti-Drug Policy: Statutory And Constitutional Implications, Ariel Berschadsky

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Alan Isaacman And The First Amendment: A Candid Interview With Larry Flynt's Attorney, Clay Calvert, Robert D. Richards

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Constitutionality Of Dna Sampling On Arrest, David H. Kaye

Faculty Scholarship

Every state now collects DNA from people convicted of certain offenses. Law enforcement authorities promote offender DNA databanking on the theory that it will identify offenders who commit additional crimes while or probation or parole, or after they have finished serving their sentences. Even relatively small databases have yielded such dividends. As these database searches uncover the perpetrators of rapes, murders, and other offenses, the pressure builds to expand the coverage of the databases.

Recent proposals call for extending not merely the scope of crimes for which DNA databanking would be used, but also the point at which the samples …

Miranda In Comparative Law, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

Not only have the Miranda warnings become a recognized procedure in police interrogations in the United States, but they have been adopted or strengthened over the years in formerly inquisitorial countries like Germany, Italy, Spain and most recently France, and are now recognized as having constitutional status. This article discusses the protections afforded to criminal suspects and defendants overseas when faced with interrogation by police, prosecutors, investigating magistrates or judges of the investigation. It compares the admonitions given to such suspects with those provided in the Miranda decision and discusses their constitutional, or statutory status. It further discusses when such …

Allocution For Victims Of Economic Crimes, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Homosexual-Advance Defense And Hate Crimes Statutes: Their Interaction And Conflict, Scott D. Mccoy

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Look Who's Extrapolating: A Reply To Hoffmann, Valerie West, Jeffery Fagan, James S. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

In late March, a reporter called with news of a pirated copy of Professor Joseph Hoffinann's soon-to-be-published "attack" on our study, A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995. Did we care to comment? Obtaining our own copy revealed that Professor Hoffmann's fusillade missed its mark (he misstates what we did) and boomeranged (his mischaracterizations of our analysis accurately describe his own). We do care to comment, and Hoffmann and the Indiana Law Journal have graciously let us do so.

Hoffmann's main claim is that we "extrapolated" the 68% rate of reversible error we reported for capital verdicts …

Reconceptualizing Federal Habeas Corpus For State Prisoners: How Should Aedpa's Standard Of Review Operate After Williams V. Taylor?, Adam N. Steinman

Faculty Scholarship

This Article aims to expand the debate over the proper standard of review that applies in state prisoner habeas corpus actions in federal court. To date, this debate has centered on whether federal habeas courts should defer to the state court's resolution of federal legal questions, or whether federal habeas courts should assess and apply federal law de novo. However, in Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000), the Supreme Court held that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) imposes a deferential standard of review that precludes a federal habeas court from granting relief based simply on its …

Don't Take His Eye, Don't Take His Tooth, And Don't Cast The First Stone: Limiting Religious Arguments In Capital Cases, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Professors John H. Blume and Sheri Lynn Johnson explore the occurrences of religious imagery and argument invoked by both prosecutors and defense attorneys in capital cases. Such invocation of religious imagery and argument by attorneys is not surprising, considering that the jurors who hear such arguments are making life and death decisions, and advocates, absent regulation, will resort to such emotionally compelling arguments. Also surveying judicial responses to such arguments in courts, Professors Blume and Johnson gauge the level of tolerance for such arguments in specific jurisdictions. Presenting proposed rules for prosecutors and defense counsel who wish to employ religious …

Down On The Corner: An Analysis Of Gang-Related Antiloitering Laws, Jocelyn L. Santo

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where Hannah Arendt Went Wrong, David Abraham

Articles

No abstract provided.

Section 6: Criminal Law & Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Editor's Observations: The 2001 Economic Crime Package: A Legislative History, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

On April 6, 2001, the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved a group of amendments to guidelines governing the sentencing of economic crimes. These measures, collectively known to as the “economic crime package,” are the culmination of some six years of deliberations by both the Conaboy and Murphy Sentencing Commissions working together with interested outside groups such as the defense bar, the Justice Department, probation officers, and the Criminal Law Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference, The package contains three basic components. First, the now-separate theft and fraud guidelines, Sections 2B1.1 and 2F1.1, will be consolidated into a single guideline. Second, the …

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 …

Arkansas's Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction Act: The Balance Of Offender Rehabilitation And Accountability, Connie Hickman Tanner

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Available Post-Trial Relief After A State Criminal Conviction When Newly Discovered Evidence Establishes "Actual Innocence", Josephine Linker Hart, Guilford M. Dudley

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law And Criminal Procedure—Media Ride-Alongs Into The Home: Can They Survive A Head-On Collision Between First And Fourth Amendment Rights? Wilson V. Layne, 526 U.S. 603 (1999), Deleith Duke Gossett

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

My Lai: An American Tragedy, William G. Eckhardt

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Holloway V. United States: Conditional V. Unconditional Intent To Kill, Michael Douglas Owens

Mercer Law Review

In Holloway v. United States, the United States Supreme Court held that the "intent to kill" element in the federal cajacking statute was satisfied by a mere conditional intent to kill. The Court reasoned that a common-sense reading of the statute indicated Congress's attempt to include the mens rea of both unconditional and conditional intent.

Carl Schmitt: The Defective Guidance For The Critique Of Political Liberalism, Emanuel Richter

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Relevant Conduct Relevant - Reconsidering The Guidelines Approach To Real Offense Sentencing, David Yellen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Breard And Beyond: The Status Of Consular Notification And Access Under The Vienna Convention, Howard S. Schiffman

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article examines the challenges and implications of enforcing Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in the U.S., focusing on whether individuals can seek remedies for violations in U.S. courts. It highlights the legal ambiguities surrounding the treaty's self-executing status and the barriers foreign states face in enforcing it domestically. The author emphasizes the need for improved U.S. compliance to protect its citizens abroad and maintain international legal order.

Decriminalization Of Sodomy Under South Africa's 1996 Constitution: Implications For South African And U.S. Law, Heidi Joy Schmid

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the landmark decision of the South African Constitutional Court in National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Another v. Minister of Justice and Another, which invalidated sodomy laws as unconstitutional. The court held that these laws violated rights to dignity, privacy, and equality under the South African Constitution of 1996. Judge Sachs emphasized the interconnectedness of privacy and equality rights, advocating for a broad interpretation of privacy and the importance of dignity in challenging discriminatory laws. The decision not only advanced sexual minority rights in South Africa but also highlighted broader implications for global jurisprudence, …

The Emotional Economy Of Capital Sentencing, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

You often hear that one reason capital jurors condemn capital defendants is that jurors don't empathize with defendants. And one reason they don't empathize is that the process of capital sentencing is rigged against empathy. Using data from the South Carolina segment of the Capital Jury Project, I try to examine the role emotion plays in capital sentencing.

Without entering here all the important and necessary caveats, I find that the self-reported emotional responses jurors have toward capital defendants run the gamut from sympathy and pity at one extreme, to disgust, anger, and fear at the other. What causes these …

Litigation In The United States And Mexico: A Comparative Overview, Robert M. Kossick, Jr.

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Correcting Deadly Confusion: Responding To Jury Inquiries In Capital Cases, Stephen P. Garvey, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Paul Marcus

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In Weeks v. Angelone, 528 U.S. 225 (2000), the members of the capital sentencing jury asked for clarification of the jury instructions on the essential question of whether they were required to sentence Weeks to death upon the finding of certain aggravating factors. The judge merely informed the jurors to reread the instruction. The jurors returned with a death penalty sentence. The Supreme Court held that these jurors likely understood the instructions and at most Weeks had shown a slight possibility that the jurors believed they were precluded from considering mitigating evidence. However, the results of a mock jury study …

Who Makes The Call? Sentencing The Firearm User Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(C) Inunited States V. Alborola-Rodriguez, David J. Williams

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Equality For Deportable Aliens: Departures From The Sentencing Guidelines On The Basis Of Alienage, Jason Bent

Michigan Law Review

Peter Bakeas, a thirty-three-year-old Greek citizen living in West Lynn, Massachusetts and working in an entry-level position at the First National Bank of Greece in Massachusetts, developed a cocaine habit he could not afford. Mounting debt from his cocaine habit pressured him to find alternative means for obtaining income. Bakeas, using his position at First National Bank of Greece, began to embezzle money from the accounts of a distant relative and some family friends. When his scheme was discovered, he confessed and made arrangements to repay the money he had taken. Bakeas pled guilty to embezzlement by a bank officer, …