Criminal Law Commons^™

Hearsay In High Definition: Body-Worn Cameras And The Future Of Intimate Partner Violence Prosecutions, Kenechukwu Okocha

Working Papers

Technological advances in documenting police encounters with the public have outpaced evidentiary hearsay rules. Specifically, the rapid adoption of body-worn cameras (BWCs), fueled by racial justice and police reform advocates, has produced previously unavailable, vivid, and timely recordings of IPV victims’ accounts of abuse. Unfortunately, state and federal rules governing hearsay often prevent juries from considering these out-of-court statements. Such restrictions carry particular force in IPV cases, where victims frequently recant or decline to testify at trial due to abuser manipulation or distrust of the criminal justice system.

Courts and legislatures have eased some evidentiary restrictions in IPV cases in …

الجوانب الفنية للتفريد القضائي في قوانين الدول العربية, محمود محمود مصطفى

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

No abstract provided.

تعويض المجني عليه في الجريمة في قوانين الدول العربية, محمود محمود مصطفى

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

No abstract provided.

Fabricating The Crime Of Undocumented Presence, Eric S. Fish, Doug Keller

Fordham Law Review

In 2025, the Trump administration’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) declared that it is a federal crime simply to be an undocumented immigrant. Congress has enacted no such crime. Congress has made it a crime for an immigrant to enter the United States in a manner that “eludes examination or inspection.” For nearly 100 years, this “elude” offense has been understood to occur only at the moment an immigrant enters the country. But the Trump administration’s OLC has reinterpreted this crime as a continuing offense. Under this new reading, an immigrant who entered unlawfully eludes examination until the moment of …

Rekonstruksi Pengawasan Peradilan Substantif Atas Perjanjian Penundaan Penuntutan Korporasi Dalam Perspektif Civic Trust Dan Reintegrative Shaming, Merlin Swantamalo Magna, Ariesta Wibisono Anditya

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Law Number 20 of 2025 on the Criminal Procedure Code introduces the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) as a special mechanism for corporate offenders. Article 328(8) grants judges substantive authority to assess proportionality, the impact on the national economy, and the suspect's ability to meet the agreed conditions—yet provides no clear parameters. This absence risks legal uncertainty, judicial formalism, and abuse of power, while colliding with the presumption of innocence within Indonesia's civil-law tradition, in which judges have traditionally played a passive role. This study aims to construct a dogmatic framework for judges' substantive judicial-supervision authority in the DPA mechanism. Employing …

Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Washington Search And Seizure Law: 2026 Update, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Debra L. Stephens, Justice Steven González

Seattle University Law Review

This Survey is intended to serve as a resource which Washington lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, and others can turn to as an authoritative starting point for researching Washington search and seizure law. In order to be useful as a research tool, this Survey requires periodic updates to address new cases interpreting the Washington constitution and the U.S. Constitution and to reflect the current state of the law. As the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to examine Fourth Amendment search and seizure jurisprudence, its decisions and reflections on Washington law are discussed.

Most of the Survey cases involve the Washington …

Getting Money Out Of Politics By Putting Money Into Politics: A Few Modest Proposals To Reform Seattle’S Democracy Voucher Program, Decker O’Donnell

Seattle University Law Review

Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program offers an unconventional response to the growing influence of money in American elections: rather than restricting political spending, it seeks to amplify the participation of ordinary voters by providing publicly funded vouchers that residents may assign to participating candidates. This Article examines the program’s development, operation, and constitutional foundation within the modern campaign-finance framework established by Buckley v. Valeo and subsequent Supreme Court decisions. It argues that democracy vouchers provide a constitutionally viable means of broadening participation in campaign financing while mitigating the influence of wealthy donors. The Article identifies two weaknesses in the current system: …

Legal Malpractice In Washington: Use Of The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Angelo Tadrous

Seattle University Law Review

Legal malpractice claims are difficult to prove. They are difficult to prove because many jurisdictions require that a plaintiff prove that, but for the lawyer’s misconduct, the client would have fared better. Thus, in a malpractice suit, a plaintiff must try a case within a case. Despite this difficulty, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of the Rules of Professional Conduct when litigating a malpractice case. Washington State is one of these jurisdictions. The Washington Supreme Court held in Hizey v. Carpenter that the Rules of Professional Conduct may not be referred to during trial. This Note argues that this prohibition …

Converting Buildings Is Hard: Why Seattle’S Municipal Government Should Streamline Commercial-To-Residential Conversions, Tyler M. King

Seattle University Law Review

The conversion of commercial buildings into housing is a promising solution to the growing housing crisis in many urban areas. However, despite its potential benefits, the process of repurposing commercial spaces is often stymied by complex zoning codes, high conversion costs, and bureaucratic hurdles. This Article argues that the local and state governments in Seattle should adopt more streamlined policies and offer greater incentives to developers to facilitate these conversions. By reforming zoning regulations and providing targeted financial support, municipalities can reduce the barriers to conversion and unlock the potential of underutilized commercial properties. This article examines the legal and …

Who Decides The Dead? Interpreting Washington’S Disposition Of Remains Statute, Wyatt Young

Seattle University Law Review

Washington’s disposition-of-remains statute, RCW 68.50.160, is designed to honor a decedent’s expressed wishes regarding the control and disposition of their body after death. Yet recent litigation reveals a critical gap between the statute’s intent-centered design and its practical enforceability. In Larotonda v. Blackburn, a trial court acknowledged that irreparable harm would occur if a decedent’s burial wishes were ignored but nonetheless denied relief on the grounds that the individual designated to carry out those wishes lacked standing. The result was a legal paradox: a statute that recognizes decedent autonomy in theory but withholds any meaningful mechanism for its enforcement …

Are Individual Mental Health Issues Treated Fairly By The Criminal Justice System?, Taylor Anderson

Master of Arts in Human Services

The intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system is a critical area of inquiry that highlights the complexities of addressing psychological disorders within our legal frameworks. This paper explores the prevalence of mental health issues among incarcerated individuals and examines how systemic deficiencies contribute to a cycle of recidivism and inadequate treatment. By analyzing the existing literature, the research aims to illuminate the pressing need for a reform in the handling of mentally ill offenders, advocating for a shift towards more rehabilitative approaches rather than punitive measures. The implications of those findings extend beyond individual cases to societal …

The Nature Of Human Trafficking Enterprises: Analysis Of U.S. And International Prosecutions--And The Path Forward, Jay Albanese

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The primary objective of this research is to develop a description and typology of the nature of serious cases of human trafficking and how traffickers, their victims, and consumers (the demand) overlap and interact across locations. This study examines known human trafficking enterprises for which sufficient evidence has been obtained to result in prosecution. These are also serious cases because US federal and international prosecutions result when the offenses are interstate or international in scope. Using a sample of US cases prosecuted over three calendar years (2021-2024), combined with an international sample of cases, an effort is made to develop …

Sex Buying, Sex Trafficking, And Organized Crime: Introduction To A Special Issue, Marcel Van Der Watt, John A. Winterdyk

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Law Enforcement With Rent Dissipation, Murat C. Mungan, J. Shahar Dillbary

Faculty Scholarship

We consider a framework which brings together losses arising from rent-dissipation and the workhorse model of law enforcement. Governmental actors engage in a contest to share the proceeds from the enforcement of the law through monetary fines, which leads to rent-dissipation. This causes monetary sanctions to be costly, rendering the model used for studying nonmonetary sanctions a better fit for their analysis. The effect of rent-dissipation on optimal sanctions is directly related to the sanction elasticity of offenses measured at the classic optimum (i.e., where the expected sanction equals the direct harm from the offense). When offenses are inelastic, the …

Disrupting Transnational Human Trafficking Networks: A Practitioner's Perspective On Intelligence-Driven, Offender-Focused Strategies, Rochelle Keyhan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article examines human trafficking through the lens of organized crime and explores how this perspective can be applied to contemporary trafficking cases in the United States. While trafficking is often prosecuted as an isolated criminal act, many incidents are linked to larger transnational and domestic organized crime networks. The discussion highlights the activities of notorious syndicates, including international cartels, street gangs, and well-funded networks of sex buyers, demonstrating how these entities exploit vulnerable populations for profit. Reframing human trafficking as a sector within organized crime shifts investigative and prosecutorial strategies away from victim-dependent models, which often require survivors to …

The Confluence Of Conflict-Induced Vulnerability, Organized Crime, And Sex Trafficking In Receiving States: A South African Civil Society Perspective, Monique Emser

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The crime-conflict nexus has been well-documented in conflict-affected and post-conflict states. Criminal networks make use of manifold methods and strategies to exploit individual and structural vulnerabilities, particularly those affected by war, displacement, and precarious migration journeys, forming the backbone of most conflict-induced trafficking ecosystems, whether in countries of origin, transit, or receipt. This article examines the intersection of sex trafficking, diaspora communities, and organized crime within South Africa as a receiving state from a civil society perspective. It underscores the deficiencies in traditional, reductionist, enforcement-based approaches to counter-trafficking by the state, where nested subsystems, such as those produced by endemic …

Behind The Screen: Online Sex Buyer Networks And The Organized Criminal Promotion Of Exploitation, Ava Kamdem, Vanessa Bouché, Ben Silver, Nick Freeman, Justin Euteneier

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This study investigates the extent to which online sex buyer communities in the United States function as organized criminal networks pursuant to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime’s definition of organized criminal groups. Drawing from theories of organized crime, social network analysis, and digital ecosystems, we conceptualize sex buyers not as isolated actors but as participants in coordinated, mutually reinforcing networks that share information to facilitate exploitation, mitigate risk, and sustain criminal behavior. To test this framework, we scraped over 1.2 million posts from a publicly accessible sex buyer forum, comprising 72,974 unique users and nearly 800,000 direct …

Drawing A Line In The Mud: The Fifth Circuit's Narrow Reading Of Louisiana's Infrastructure Trespass Statute In White Hat V. Murrill, Andrew J. Lloyd

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Treatment Sentences, Evelyn Lia Malavé

BYU Law Review

One of the most common mandates of a non-incarceratory sentence is to submit to treatment. Across the criminal legal system, from problem-solving courts to probation, millions of defendants sentenced to non-incarceratory sentences—including people not diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder—are required to attend drug treatment programs. After decades of policies that criminalized drug use, non-incarceratory sentences that match people with treatment may appear to be a step forward—or at least not the most pressing problem.

But criminal law scholarship has not fully reckoned with the harms of treatment sentences, including the harms of mandated treatment itself. Analysis of treatment sentences …

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead

Reimagining Legal Education: The Transformative Power Of Small-Group Instruction, Michael I. Meyerson

Seattle University Law Review

Legal education is failing its students. Those entering their first year of law school have greater anxiety and less developed reading and writing skills than ever before. The traditional large Socratic class, which was never the most effective teaching method, has become increasingly counterproductive.

This Article contends that small-group instruction provides the opportunity for superior teaching, especially for first-year law students. Recent scholarship in active learning, educational psychology, and students’ mental health demonstrates the limitations of the traditional large Socratic class experience. Building on that theoretical foundation and informed by sustained classroom experience, this Article argues that small-group pedagogy more …

Land Without Legacy: The Case For Market-Based Appraisals On Hawaiian Home Lands, Alexis C. Owens

Seattle University Law Review

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA) was enacted to restore Native Hawaiians to ancestral lands and promote long term economic self-sufficiency. More than a century later, that promise remains unfulfilled. This Note argues that a central but overlooked barrier lies in the HHCA’s mandated use of the replacement cost appraisal method, which systematically undervalues homestead properties by excluding market forces. In one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, this approach suppresses home equity, the primary means of intergenerational wealth building, and restricts beneficiaries’ access to credit and financial stability. By severing the connection between …

International Law’S Forgotten Refugees—Palestinian Refugees In Egypt

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the legal and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian refugees who have fled to Egypt amidst the ongoing violence in Gaza. While escaping active conflict, these refugees face systemic barriers to employment and education, rendering their living conditions precarious and unsustainable. The unique legal status of Palestinian refugees stems from the fact that they have been excluded from the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, leaving them without any meaningful international protection. This exclusion is rooted in the political complexities of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and reflects a fragmented legal framework that prioritizes limited humanitarian aid over …

How The Dod Discourages Military Families From Seeking Mental Health Counseling, Christina Welch

Seattle University Law Review

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) administration of the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) presents significant barriers to mental health care access for military spouses and children. This paper explores how the EFMP, though designed to support military families with special needs, inadvertently creates barriers to mental health treatment. Military family members often do not seek mental health treatment to avoid the program's mandatory enrollment requirements. Military family members often view enrollment in the program undesirable because enrollment can restrict the pool of potential future duty assignment locations that are available to service members.

The lack of comprehensive data collection by …

2025, Richard Delgado

Seattle University Law Review

"In a cutting and provocative social critique in one of the more extended Rodrigo Chronicles, Richard Delgado in 2025 employs skillful narrative—one of CRT’s many contributions to legal scholarship —to tell a gripping story of just how far the nation has descended into darkness with President Trump’s re-election. In Delgado’s vision, law professors—along with other political opponents of the President: immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, the underserved—have targets on their backs."

-excerpt from Kevin Johnson's review of 2025

The Preventative Care Gap: Completing The Aca’S Vision For Health, Abby Nagaich

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the legal, political, and practical challenges that threaten its effectiveness. While the ACA significantly expanded access to no-cost preventive services, gaps remain—particularly in behavioral health, obesity management, and equitable service delivery. Ongoing litigation, potential administrative rollbacks, and shifting political leadership further destabilize this critical component of public health policy.

This Note argues that for the ACA to fulfill its original promise—and for any health framework to succeed—preventive care must be redefined as a comprehensive, early intervention approach grounded in both systemic access and patient education. It …

Veiled Justice: Secularism And The Hijab Across Democracies, Mohamed ‘Arafa

Seattle University Law Review

For much of 2022, Iran was gripped by widespread protests led by women who openly challenged the regime’s authority, particularly its compulsory veiling laws, following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Women around the globe came around and showed solidarity with the women in Iran. However, in non-Islamic countries and societies, one can still make out many prejudices and stereotyping connected to the question of whether and to what extent veiling is mandatory for women according to Shārīe’ā law. Is wearing the hijab a choice, or rather, an essential religious practice that religious Muslim women need to obey? …