Criminal Law Commons^™

“Under The Present Mode Of Trial, Improper Verdicts Are Very Often Given”: Criminal Procedure In The Trials Of Slaves In Antebellum Louisiana, Judith Kelleher Schafer

Cardozo Law Review

When Louisiana became an American possession in 1803, a primary concern of the new territorial government and its inhabitants was what kind of law would be most appropriate to provide stability and maintain order in a heterogeneous population composed of free persons of French, Spanish, and American ancestry, those of African origin, free and slave, American Indians, and various combinations of these cultures and races.

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 …

Outlawing Outcasts: Comparative Perspectives On The Differing Functions Of The Criminal Law Of Slavery In The Americas, Robert J. Cottrol

Cardozo Law Review

This is a commentary on some issues raised by Anthony De V. Phillips's "Doubly Condemned": Adjustments to the Crime and Punishment Regime in the Late Slavery Period in the British Caribbean Colonies and Judith K. Schafer's "Under the Present Mode of Trial, Improper Verdicts are Very Often Given": Criminal Procedure Trials of Slaves in Antebellum Louisiana, both of which appear in this volume. Both discussions highlight the role of criminal law, procedure, and punishment in helping to sustain systems of African and Afro-American chattel slavery in New World societies. They provide interesting contrasts between civil and common law approaches to …

The Future Of The Post-Batson Peremptory Challenge: Voir Dire By Questionnaire And The "Blind" Peremptory, Jean Montoya

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the peremptory challenge as modified by Batson and its progeny. The discussion is based in part on a survey of trial lawyers, asking them about their impressions of the peremptory challenge, Batson, and jury selection generally. The Article concludes that neither the peremptory challenge nor Batson achieve their full potential. Primarily because of time and other constraints on voir dire, the peremptory challenge falls short as a tool in shaping fair and impartial juries. While Batson may prevent some unlawful discrimination in jury selection, Batson falls short as a tool in identifying unlawful discrimination once it …

Rape, Race, And Representation: The Power Of Discourse, Discourses Of Power, And The Reconstruction Of Heterosexuality, Elizabeth M. Iglesias

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Firearms In Violence "Scripts": The Dynamics Of Gun Events Among Adolescent Males, Deanna L. Wilkinson, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, the use and deadly consequences of gun violence among adolescents has reached epidemic proportions. At a time when national homicide rates are declining, the increasing rates of firearm deaths among teenagers is especially alarming. Deaths of adolescents due to firearm injuries are disproportionately concentrated among nonwhites, and especially among African-American teenagers and young adults. Only in times of civil war have there been higher within-group homicide rates in the United States. There appears to be a process of self-annihilation among male African-American teens in inner cities that is unprecedented in American history. Unfortunately, few studies have examined …

Crime And Punishment: Benign Neglect Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System, Angela J. Davis

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article is a literary review and analysis of Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America by Michael Tonry (1995). Part I of this review describes Tonry's analysis of the crime policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Part II discusses Tonry's indictment of the War on Drugs and criticizes his failure to acknowledge the effects of discriminatory prosecutorial practices and sentencing laws. Part III critiques Tonry's trivialization of the significance of race discrimination in the criminal justice system more generally. Part IV summarizes Tonry's proposals for change and stresses the importance of documenting, examining, and eliminating racial bias …

That's My Story And I'M Stickin' To It: The Jury As Fifth Business In The Trial Of O.J. Simpson And Other Matters, Marianne Wesson

Publications

No abstract provided.

The O.J. Simpson Verdict: A Lesson In Black And White, Christo Lassiter

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This article is an attempt to analyze the O.J. Simpson verdict and the press coverage of it, to suggest ways not only of improving criminal justice in a diverse community, but also of improving press coverage of criminal justice in a diverse community. Part Two of this essay is subdivided into two sections. The first section surveys the op-ed pages of major newspapers to evaluate the analysis of, and the commentary on, the O.J. Simpson verdict. The second section deconstructs the press' spin on the verdict. Part Three of this article discusses the role of a jury and proof beyond …

The Social Construction Of Identity In Criminal Cases: Cinema Verité And The Pedagogy Of Vincent Chin, Paula C. Johnson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This article will discuss the use of the film, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, as a method: (1) to analyze the relationship of social constructions of identity, particularly race, on the rules and discretionary application of criminal jurisprudence; (2) to provide an interactive pedagogical tool for law teachers, especially criminal law teachers, to examine the social contexts of criminal jurisprudence from multiple perspectives; and (3) to examine the ability of criminal law doctrine to address issues of race.

Introduction: O.J. Simpson And The Criminal Justice System On Trial, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Color Of Money, Paul F. Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

True Lies: The Role Of Pretext Evidence Under Batson V. Kentucky In The Wake Of St. Mary's Honor Center V. Hicks, David A. Sutphen

Michigan Law Review

In the process of determining whether a peremptory strike is valid, lower courts rely on the TI.tie VII burden-shifting framework originally laid out by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green As a result, the order and presentation of proof in Batson cases deliberately parallels the order and presentation of proof in TI.tie VII intentional discrimination suits. In light of this similarity, the Supreme Court's recent TI.tie VII ruling in St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks - that proof of pretext under the McDonnell Douglas framework is not the legal equivalent to proof of intentional discrimination - raises …

Black Rage: The Illegitimacy Of A Criminal Defense, 29 J. Marshall L. Rev. 205 (1995), Kimberly M. Copp

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fantasy, Celebrity, And Homicide, Thomas Morawetz

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The Punishment Of Hate: Toward A Normative Theory Of Bias-Motivated Crimes, Frederick M. Lawrence

Michigan Law Review

This article explores how bias crimes differ from parallel crimes and why this distinction makes a crucial difference in our criminal law. Bias crimes differ from parallel crimes as a matter of both the resulting harm and the mental state of the offender. The nature of the injury sustained by the immediate victim of a bias crime exceeds the harm caused by a parallel crime. Moreover, bias crimes inflict a palpable harm on the broader target community of the crime as well as on society at large, while parallel crimes do not generally cause such widespread injury.

The distinction between …

Challenging Prosecutorial Peremptory Challenges: Little V. United States, Suzanne Frare

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Postconviction Review Of Jury Discrimination: Measuring The Effects Of Juror Race On Jury Decisions, Nancy J. King

Michigan Law Review

In Part I, I review the empirical evidence concerning the effect of jury discrimination on jury decisions. Using the work of social and cognitive psychologists, I argue that the influence of jury discrimination on jury decisions is real and can be measured by judges in certain circumstances. The empirical studies suggest criteria that courts could use to identify the cases in which jury discrimination is most likely to affect the verdict. I also refute the argument that white judges can never predict the behavior of jurors of racial backgrounds different than their own and conclude that judicial estimates of the …

Capital Punishment's Future, Welsh S. White

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Capital Punishment in America by Raymond Paternoster

Prostitution: Where Racism & Sexism Intersect, Vednita Nelson

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Black women find themselves in a unique and extremely difficult position in our society. They are forced to deal with the oppression that arises from being Black in a white-supremacist culture and the oppression that arises from being female in a male-supremacist culture. In order to examine the experience of being Black and female, this paper attempts to describe that very difficult, tight space where Black women attempt to survive-that space where racism and sexism intersect.

Reel Time/Real Justice, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

Like the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings a few months before, the Rodney King beating, the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers who "restrained" him and the subsequent civil unrest in Los Angeles flashed Race across the national consciousness and the gaze of American culture momentarily froze there. Pieces of everyday racial dynamics briefly seemed clear, then faded from view, replaced by presidential politics and natural disasters.

This Essay examines in more depth what was exposed during the momentary national focus on Rodney King. Two main events – the acquittal of the police officers who beat King and the civil …

Victimization, The Poor, And Payne V. Tennessee, Richard Bender Abell

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Report And Recommendations Of The Florida Supreme Court Racial And Ethnic Bias Study Commission, Leander J. Shaw, Jr.

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Report And Recommendations Of The Florida Supreme Court Racial And Ethnic Bias Commission, Florida Supreme Court Racial And Ethnnic Bias Study Commission

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addendum To The Report And Recommendations Of The Florida Supreme Court Racial And Ethnic Bias Study Commission, Florida Supreme Court Racial And Ethnnic Bias Study Commission

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Race, Aggravated Murder, And The Death Sentence In Multnomah County, Oregon, 1984-1990 : A Descriptive Analysis And Review, Patrick Arthur Jolley

Dissertations and Theses

Criminal justice administrators in the United States have been challenged by a highly visible accusation of racial discrimination. This perception has weakened the confidence in, and support of, our judicial process. This study attempted to clarify this perception by examining the effect of race on certain judicial decisions related to the death penalty. The variables chosen for analysis focused on the persons involved in the homicide, the circumstances of the crime, and decisions made during the processing of capital cases.

Abusive Prosecutors: Gender, Race & Class Discretion And The Prosecution Of Drug-Addicted Mothers, Dwight L. Greene

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Twice Condemned: Slaves And The Criminal Laws Of Virginia, 1705-1865 (Book Review), Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Review of the book, Twice Condemned: Slaves and the Criminal Laws of Virginia, 1705-1865, by Philip J. Schwarz. Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1988.

Disorder In The Court: The Death Penalty And The Constitution, Robert A. Burt

Michigan Law Review

This article has two purposes. Its first aim is to trace the significance of these shifting characterizations of American society in the Justices' successive approaches to the death penalty by retelling the story of the Court's capital punishment jurisprudence. Its second purpose is to suggest that belief in implacable social hostility destroys the coherence of the judicial role in constitutional adjudication. America may indeed be an irreconcilably polarized society; I cannot dispositively prove or disprove the proposition. I mean only to claim that in constitutional adjudication a judge is obliged to act as if this proposition were false; and, moreover, …

Black Innocence And The White Jury, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Michigan Law Review

Racial prejudice has come under increasingly close scrutiny during the past thirty years, yet its influence on the decisionmaking of criminal juries remains largely hidden from judicial and critical examination. In this Article, Professor Johnson takes a close look at this neglected area. She first sets forth a large body of social science research that reveals a widespread tendency among whites to convict black defendants in instances in which white defendants would be acquitted. Next, she argues that none of the existing techniques for eliminating the influence of racial bias on criminal trials adequately protects minority-race defendants. She contends that …