Criminal Law Commons^™

When Balance And Fairness Collide: An Argument For Execution Impact Evidence In Capital Trials, Wayne A. Logan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A central precept of death penalty jurisprudence is that only the "death worthy" should be condemned, based on a "reasoned moral response" by the sentencing authority. Over the past decade, however, the Supreme Court has distanced itself from its painstaking efforts in the 1970s to calibrate death decision making in the name of fairness. Compelling proof of this shift is manifest in the Court's decisions to permit victim impact evidence in capital trials, and to allow jurors to be instructed that sympathy for capital defendants is not to influence capital decisions. This Article examines a novel strategy now being employed …

Formal Legal Truth And Substantive Truth In Judicial Fact-Finding – Their Justified Divergence In Some Particular Cases, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Truth is a fundamental objective of adjudicative processes; ideally, ‘substantive’ as distinct from ‘formal legal’ truth. But problems of evidence, for example, may frustrate finding of substantive truth; other values may lead to exclusions of probative evidence, e.g., for the sake of fairness. ‘Jury nullification’ and ‘jury equity’. Limits of time, and definitiveness of decision, require allocation of burden of proof. Degree of truth-formality is variable within a system and across systems.

Reconceiving The Right To Present Witnesses, Richard A. Nagareda

Michigan Law Review

Modem American law is, in a sense, a system of compartments. For understandable curricular reasons, legal education sharply distinguishes the law of evidence from both constitutional law and criminal procedure. In fact, the lines of demarcation between these three subjects extend well beyond law school to the organization of the leading treatises and case headnotes to which practicing lawyers routinely refer in their trade. Many of the most interesting questions in the law, however, do not rest squarely within a single compartment; instead, they concern the content and legitimacy of the lines of demarcation themselves. This article explores a significant, …

The Second Circuit's Attack On Jury Nullification In United States V. Thomas: In Disregard Of The Law And The Evidence, Ran Zev Schijanovich

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Text, Context And The Problem With Rape, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Defense Discovery In White Collar Criminal Prosecutions, Peter J. Henning

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

When To Hear The Hearsay: A Proposal For A New Rule Of Evidence Designed To Protect The Constitutional Right Of The Criminally Accused To Confront The Witnesses Against Her, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1287 (1999), Scott A. Smith

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Right To Inspect And Test Breath Alcohol Machines: Suspicion Ain't Proof, 33 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (1999), Gil Sapir, Mark Giangrande

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating The Market For Snitches , Ian Weinstein

Faculty Scholarship

These are boom times for the sellers and buyers of cooperation in the federal criminal justice system. While prosecutors have always welcomed the assistance of snitches, tougher federal sentencing laws have led to a significant increase in cooperation as more defendants try to provide "substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person," to have some chance of receiving a significant sentence reduction. In 1996 one of every five defendants sentenced in the federal courts won mitigation by providing substantial assistance. Many more defendants tried but failed to close the deal. The overheated cooperation market is creating serious problems …

The Extension Of The Bruton Rule At The Expense Of Judicial Efficiency In Gray V. Maryland, Richard F. Dzubin

University of Richmond Law Review

"An argument broke out between [Kevin] and Stacey in the 500 block of Louden Avenue. Stacey got smacked and then ran into Wildwood Parkway. Me, [Kevin], and a few other guys ran after Stacey .... We beat Stacey up."

When Justice Fails: Indemnification For Unjust Conviction, Adele Bernhard

Articles & Chapters

The first section of this article reviews the evidence, both historical and contemporary, documenting the existence and frequency of wrongful convictions. The next dissects an actual case to illustrate how an innocent person can be convicted and why, once the error has been corrected and the conviction is vacated, that person generally has no legal action for damages in the absence of indemnification legislation. The third section argues that society has a moral obligation to assist the wrongfully convicted; that indemnification legislation is a better approach than reliance on ''moral obligation" bills; and that enacting legislation is possible - just …

Some Thoughts On The Conduct/Status Distinction, Sherry F. Colb

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lost Lives: Miscarriages Of Justice In Capital Cases, Samuel R. Gross

Articles

In case after case, erroneous conviction for capital murder has been proven. I contend that these are not disconnected accidents, but systematic consequences of the nature of homicice prosecution in the general and capital prosecution in particular - that in this respect, as in others, death distorts and undermines the course of the law.

Kumho Tire Company, Ltd. V. Carmichael: Brief Amici Curiae Of Neil Vidmar, Richard O. Lempert, Shari Seidman Diamond, Valerie P. Hans, Stephan Landsman, Robert Maccoun, Joseph Sanders, Harmon M. Hosch, Saul Kassin, Marc Galanter, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen Daniels, Edith Greene, Joanne Martin, Steven Penrod, James Richardson, Larry Heuer And Irwin Horowitz In Support Of Respondents, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Richard C. Lempert

Appellate Briefs

Amici are university professors or hold positions in independent research institutions. Each has conducted empirical research on juries. The interest of these amici in this case is to provide the Court with an accurate picture of what a substantial body of research says about jury competence and behavior as it pertains to the evaluation of expert testimony. Short biographies of each amicus are provided in Appendix A.

This brief addresses the issue of jury performance and jury responses to expert testimony. It reviews and summarizes a substantial body of research evidence about jury behavior that has been produced over the …

Mezzanatto And The Economics Of Self-Incrimination, Eric Rasmusen

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Extradition Law At The Crossroads: The Trend Toward Extending Greater Constitutional Procedural Protections To Fugitives Fighting Extradition From The United States, Lis Wiehl

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this article will describe the historical evolution of U.S. extradition law as a field parallel to, but separate from, domestic criminal procedure. Part II of this article describes the Parretti case and the Ninth Circuit's holding that the federal extradition statutory scheme of Title 18, United States Code, Section 3184, violates the Fourth Amendment to the extent that it authorizes the issuance of a provisional arrest warrant by a court without a prior evidentiary showing of probable cause to believe that the fugitive committed the crime charged abroad. Part III explores some of the implications and effects …

Beyond Privacy, Beyond Probable Cause, Beyond The Fourth Amendment: New Strategies For Fighting Pretext Arrests, 69 U. Colo. L. Rev. 693 (1998), Timothy P. O'Neill

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Who Are The True Experts, Joseph D. Hatina

Cleveland State Law Review

Shaken baby syndrome is a serious form of child maltreatment, often involving infants younger than six months of age. It commonly occurs, yet it is frequently overlooked in its most chronic form and underdiagnosed in its most serious expression. Section II of this article will discuss the symptoms, presentation, and clinical findings of shaken baby syndrome. It will conclude by looking at recommendations from the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. Section III delves into the history, function and statistics of Child Death Review Teams on a national level. The discussion ends by examining Ohio's proposed legislation concerning …

Taking The Cop Out Of Copping A Plea: Eradicating Police Prosecution Of Criminal Cases, Andrew Horwitz

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Thoughts From Across The Water On Hearsay And Confrontation, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

This article draws on the history of the hearsay rule, and on recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, to argue that the right to confrontation should be recognised as a basic principle of the law of evidence, and that aspects of the Law Commission's proposals for reform of the hearsay rule, and of the Home Office's proposals for restrictions on the right of cross-examination, are therefore unsatisfactory.

Substantial Assistance And Sentence Severity: Is There A Correlation Substantial Assistance, Ian Weinstein

Faculty Scholarship

How much more severe are sentences imposed in districts with low substantial assistance rates than those in which the rate is very high? In the aggregate, not at all. At first blush this may puzzle readers because substantial assistance (SA) departures are very unevenly distributed across districts and SA accounts for nearly two-thirds of all downward departures, almost 7,900 of the 12,000 in fiscal 1996. Although this pattern could result in gross disparities among districts, my analysis of inter-district sentencing patterns reveals no statistically significant correlation between the rate of SA departures and the average length of sentences imposed in …

Rape Shield Statutes And The Admissibility Of Evidence Tending To Show A Motive To Fabricate 1998 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence, Regan Kreitzer Latesta Clerk For United States Bankruptcy Court For The District Of Maryland

Cleveland State Law Review

Rape shield statutes were enacted in order to protect the rape victim from embarrassment and humiliation at the trial of the accused by restricting the admission of sexual conduct evidence. While these statutes, for the most part, succeed in protecting the victim and encouraging her to report the rape, they can have the effect of limiting the accused's ability to defend himself. Part II of this article discusses the advent of rape shield statutes in the United States. Part III examines case law construing the statutes with regard to prior sexual conduct as evidence of a motive to fabricate. Finally, …

The Negative Effects Of Expert Testimony On The Battered Women's Syndrome, Pamela Posch

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Beating The Prisoner At Prisoner's Dilemma: The Evidentiary Value Of A Witness's Refusal To Testify , Russell Dean Covey

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whoever Fights Monsters Should See To It That In The Process He Does Not Become A Monster: Hunting The Sexual Predator With Silver Bullets -- Federal Rules Of Evidence 413-415 -- And A Stake Through The Heart -- Kansas V. Hendricks, Joelle A. Moreno

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is The Witness Believable? A New Look At Truth And Veracity Character Evidence And Bad Acts Relevant To Truthfulness In A Criminal Case, Fred W. Bennett

St. Thomas Law Review

This article explores the evidentiary use at trial of a witness' character for truthfulness or untruthfulness.' Additionally, the article discusses Federal Rules of Evidence (Rule or Rules) 404(a)(1), 405(a), 608(a), and 608(b). Part II of this article covers the common law antecedents of the rules governing the use of truth and veracity character evidence. Part III explores the rationale and scope of Rule 404(a)(1), with illustrations of the use of opinion and reputation evidence under this rule. This section also includes a discussion of Rule 405(a), with an illustration of cross-examination under this rule. Part IV covers Rule 608(a) along …

Pink Elephants In The Rape Trial: The Problem Of Tort-Type Defenses In The Criminal Law Of Rape, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Character Evidence Defense: Acquittal Based On Good Character, Thomas J. Reed

Cleveland State Law Review

This article centers on the case of United States v. Martinez, the only recent case in which an accused was acquitted on the ground of good moral character. Martinez illustrates the powerful effect of a good character evidence defense that showed the accused led a blameless life before being inveigled into drug courier service by an intimidating DEA informer. This article begins with a brief review of United States v. Martinez. Following a presentation of this case, the article shifts focus to examine what our sister discipline of psychology can tell us about human personality and the cross-situational stability of …

Condemned By Substance And Process: A Comment On “Doubly Condemned”: Adjustments To The Crime And Punishment Regime In The Late Slavery Period In The British Caribbean Colonies And “Under The Present Mode Of Trial, Improper Verdicts Are Very Often Given”: Criminal Procedure In The Trials Of Slaves In Antebellum Louisiana, Raymond T. Diamond

Cardozo Law Review

The substance of modem criminal law and the procedures through which that law is enforced are a subject of current debate. On the one hand, some call into question the use of criminal sanctions as a means of enforcing schemes of regulation meant to guarantee public welfare. By the same token, violent crime and crime that is otherwise malum in se has caused increasing levels of fear and concomitant calls for more vigorous enforcement of the criminal law. As a result, the rights that protect the accused from intrusions by a potentially tyrannical state and from arbitrary decision making by …

A Bludgeon By Any Other Name: The Misuse Of Ethical Rules Against Prosecutors To Control The Law Of The State, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

My objective here is threefold: (1) to explain these ethical rules and demonstrate how each is in conflict with longstanding principles of federal criminal law; (2) to explain why these rules are illegitimate, both as rules of ethics and as rules of positive law; and (3) to offer some observations on how the dispute over these rules can sharpen our thinking about the nature and proper limits of ethical rules governing lawyers.