Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Criminal Law Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Fordham Law School

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 331 - 360 of 409

Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law

Multiple Petty Offenses With Serious Penalties: A Case For The Right To Trial By Jury, Christine E. Pardo Jan 1996

Multiple Petty Offenses With Serious Penalties: A Case For The Right To Trial By Jury, Christine E. Pardo

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note outlines the history and development of the petty offense exception and the Supreme Court's jury trial entitlement jurisprudence. In particular, it discusses the fundamental principle of gauging criminal seriousness by the length of a penalty as authorized by statute. This Note sets out the Circuit split and explains why the courts are divided on the aggregation issue. It argues that courts must aggregate maximum penalties for multiple petty offenses charged together to accurately reflect legislative determinations of criminal seriousness. It also criticizes the use of pre-trial sentencing stipulations to circumvent trial by jury when it would otherwise be …

Go to article

Administrative License Suspensions, Criminal Prosecution And The Double Jeopardy Clause, Carlos F. Ramirez Jan 1996

Administrative License Suspensions, Criminal Prosecution And The Double Jeopardy Clause, Carlos F. Ramirez

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note argues that revocation of a driver's license under ALS proceedings is not a bar to subsequent criminal prosecution by the state. It discusses the potential double jeopardy implications surrounding ALS that is followed by criminal proceedings, as well as the reasoning employed by a majority of the courts that hold that an ALS is remedial and, therefore, not punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. It argues that with regard to determining whether an ALS is punitive, the appropriate test should balance the effect of the statute on the driver against the state's interest in protecting the …

Go to article

New Strategies For Combatting Crime In New York City, William J. Bratton Jan 1996

New Strategies For Combatting Crime In New York City, William J. Bratton

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Lecture by the Commissioner of the New York Police Department. Remarks focused on why crime came down in New York City. It traces the history of policing before the 1970s, when police departments began to professionalize and the advent of community policing in the 1990s.

Go to article

Liberta Revisited: A Call To Repeal The Marital Examption For All Sex Offenses In New York's Penal Law, Cassandra M. Delamothe Jan 1996

Liberta Revisited: A Call To Repeal The Marital Examption For All Sex Offenses In New York's Penal Law, Cassandra M. Delamothe

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note argues that to fully protect victims of spousal sexual assault, the New York Legislature should codify the Liberta decision and repeal the marital exemption for all sex offenses. It outlines the history of the marital rape exemption and its evolution in New York. It discusses the Liberta decision and the barriers to effective prosecution of marital rape, such as the legal standard for "force," prosecutorial discretion in charging husbands, and gender bias in the courts. It gives policy arguments for a statutory amendment and offers a proposed statute to replace the current sex offenses section of the Penal …

Go to article

Federal Rules Of Evidence And The Political Process, David P. Leonard Jan 1995

Federal Rules Of Evidence And The Political Process, David P. Leonard

Fordham Urban Law Journal

An important tenet of American evidence law is the strict regulation on the introduction of character evidence. This principal has begun to be chipped away at through the adoption of amendments that allow character evidence to be introduced in certain types of cases. The Federal Rules of Evidence were subject to very little amendment during their first 20 years of use, and have always represented a blend of conservatism about evidence law and political compromise. This tension has been kept in check until the proposal of Rules 413-415, which represents a concession to the politicization of the rules. Before imposing …

Go to article

The Battle Over The Brady Bill And The Future Of Gun Control Advocacy, Richard M. Aborn Jan 1995

The Battle Over The Brady Bill And The Future Of Gun Control Advocacy, Richard M. Aborn

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No matter how effective a legislative scheme is, legislation alone will not eradicate the deeply rooted culture of gun violence that exists in this country. Accordingly, Handgun Control divides its efforts between legislative and non-legislative efforts. In this regard, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence carries out the non-legislative interventions of Handgun Control. These efforts include working with elementary, secondary and high schools to promote a gun violence reduction curriculum; litigating on behalf of gun victims; defending gun control legislation in the courts; working with the entertainment industry concerning the messages in popular entertainment about gun violence; and working with …

Go to article

Are Executions In New York Inevitable?, Ronald J. Tabak Jan 1995

Are Executions In New York Inevitable?, Ronald J. Tabak

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article is an edited trascription of a program considering whether executions in New York State are inevitable. Shortly after the program a law was enacted to this effect, however, Mr. Tabak argues that the law is so badly flawed that it may not survive judicial scrutiny. Present on the panel were Barbara Paul Robinson, John Cardinal O'Connor, Dean John Feerick, Archibald Murray, Thomas McDermott, Lee Grant, Cessie Alfonso and George Kendall.

Go to article

Undertaking The Task Of Reforming The American Character Evidence Prohibition: The Importance Of Getting The Experiment Off On The Right Foot, Edward J. Imwinkelried Jan 1995

Undertaking The Task Of Reforming The American Character Evidence Prohibition: The Importance Of Getting The Experiment Off On The Right Foot, Edward J. Imwinkelried

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The United States Congress and the State Legislatures of Indiana and Missouri have chosen illogical starting points in their experiments to reform the prohibition against introducing character evidence in criminal cases. Rather than start by allowing the introduction of past crimes with high recidivism rates such as burglary, these legislatures have chosen crimes with minimal probative value as predictors of the accused's conduct. By allowing the the introduction of criminal history in regard to criminal sexual conduct and child molestation, these legislatures increase the risk of wrongful conviction due to the disdain with which the average citizen views these types …

Go to article

Shots Across No Man's Land: A Response To Handgun Control, Inc.'S, Richard Aborn, Nicholas J. Johnson Jan 1995

Shots Across No Man's Land: A Response To Handgun Control, Inc.'S, Richard Aborn, Nicholas J. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In response to Richard Aborn's article "The Battle Over the Brady Bill and the Future of Gun Control Advocacy, Johnson argues that Aborn's "bad gun formula" trivializes the Second Amendment, ignores issues vital to the gun control debate, and obfuscates what should ultimately need to be a choice between an armed citizenry or a disarmed one. Aborn's article suggests no real changes and does not effectively advance the debate.

Go to article

Testing Penry And Its Progeny , Deborah W. Denno Oct 1994

Testing Penry And Its Progeny , Deborah W. Denno

Faculty Scholarship

In Penry v. Lynaugh, the United States Supreme Court held that the Texas death penalty statute was applied unconstitutionally because the trial court gave no instructions allowing the jury to “consider and give effect to” the defendant's mitigating evidence of organic brain damage, moderate retardation, and disadvantaged background. The Court considered these mitigating factors relevant because of society's steadfast belief in the lesser culpability of defendants whose criminal acts are due to a disadvantaged background, or to emotional and mental disorders. The jury must have full consideration of such evidence in order to give its “reasoned moral response” to the …

Go to article

Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak Jan 1994

Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Ronald J. Tabak, Chair of the Committee on the Death Penalty for the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, discusses the Section's purpose in organizing Forhdam University School of Law's panel discussion on "Politics and the Death Penalty." The goal was to illuminate the variety of effects of a widespread perception that the belief of legislators, governors, prosecutors, judges, clemency boards, political candidates and others that the public is overwhelmingly in support of capital punishment. The Section aimed to bring together knowledgeable people from a variety of perspectives to discuss (a) how the capital punishment system and …

Go to article

Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich Jan 1994

Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article is a transcript from a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities entitled, “Politics and the Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?” In it, Norman Redlich, former Dean of New York University Law School, James Coleman, Shabata Sundiata Waglini, Attorney General Ernest Preate, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center, journalist Nat Hentoff, New York State Assemblywoman Susan John, and Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court discuss the issue of the death penalty in America. Redlich discusses …

Go to article

Gender, Crime, And The Criminal Law Defenses, Deborah W. Denno Jan 1994

Gender, Crime, And The Criminal Law Defenses, Deborah W. Denno

Faculty Scholarship

This Article attempts to explain some of the disparity in criminality between males and females by analyzing the results of the “Biosocial Study,” one of this country's largest longitudinal studies of biological, psychological, and sociological predictors of crime. Section II analyzes the literature and research on gender differences in crime. Section III describes the Biosocial Study and its results, noting the gender differences in the prevalence and prediction of crime and the inability of any one factor to be a strong predictor of crime. Section IV considers whether gender differences warrant disparate types of punishment or treatment within the criminal …

Go to article

Considering Lead Poisoning As A Criminal Defense, Deborah W. Denno Jan 1993

Considering Lead Poisoning As A Criminal Defense, Deborah W. Denno

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A brief survey of the causes and consequences of lead poisoning suggests that lead poisoning is pervasive, particularly among blacks in urban communities, that it's effects can be debilitating, and that it has been linked to disciplinary problems, aggression, and repetitive and oftentimes violent crime. There is a legitimate question, then, about whether lead poisoning should be considered a viable criminal defense. The question of whether lead poisoning should be a defense is perhaps most appropriately placed in the context of debates regarding free will, determinism, and the ability of social scientists to predict the course of any one individual's …

Go to article

The Political Economy Of Female Violent Street Crime, Deborah Baskin, Ira Sommers, Jeffrey Fagan Jan 1993

The Political Economy Of Female Violent Street Crime, Deborah Baskin, Ira Sommers, Jeffrey Fagan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Our research has led us to the conclusion that women in New York City are becoming more and more likely to involve themselves in violent street crimes. This essay analyzes the developing role of women in violent street crime and poses a model, based on both historical analysis and empirical research, to explain the participation of women in violent street crimes in the 1980s.

Go to article

The Urban Criminal Justice System Can Be Fair, Charles J. Hynes Jan 1993

The Urban Criminal Justice System Can Be Fair, Charles J. Hynes

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This essay contains perspectives on fairness in the criminal justice system. It is written by a prosecutor with experience in an urban setting. He touches on topics such as racism, jury selection, the Rodney King case, the Howard Beach Case.

Go to article

What Is A "Fair" Reponse To Juvenile Crime?, Susan K. Knipps Jan 1993

What Is A "Fair" Reponse To Juvenile Crime?, Susan K. Knipps

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The question of how to deal fairly and effectively with the problem of juvenile crime has long perplexed the public and policy makers. The current juvenile justice system in New York State reflects this uncertainty -- as it simultaneously employs two completely different models for the adjudication of juveniles accused of unlawful acts. The first model emphasizes the provision of rehabilitative services for delinquent youth through noncriminal proceedings in the Family Court. The second model stresses the use of punitive sanctions in the adult criminal courts for more serious juvenile offenders. To begin to sort through these models, this Essay …

Go to article

Jails And Prisons -- Reservoirs Of Tb Disease: Should Defendants With Hiv Infection (Who Cannot Swim) Be Thrown Into The Reservoir?, Faith Colangelo, Mariana Hogan Jan 1993

Jails And Prisons -- Reservoirs Of Tb Disease: Should Defendants With Hiv Infection (Who Cannot Swim) Be Thrown Into The Reservoir?, Faith Colangelo, Mariana Hogan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) in urban areas has direct and alarming consequences within the criminal justice system. Lock-up facilities, jails and prisons are TB breeding grounds. TB strikes with vengeance in populations with physical vulnerabilities caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS and other immune-suppressing conditions. This Essay argues that it is time for New York State to reevaluate the mandatory sentencing laws and restrictions on plea bargaining. The interaction of HIV disease and TB offers a striking example of why justice is not served by binding the judiciary's hands. This Essay provides a medical overview of HIV …

Go to article

Urban Criminal Justice: Has The Response To The Hiv Epidemic Been "Fair"?, Richard J. Andrias Jan 1993

Urban Criminal Justice: Has The Response To The Hiv Epidemic Been "Fair"?, Richard J. Andrias

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The HIV epidemic is almost a decade old and it is estimated that one million to two million Americans are infected. Nevertheless, too often it has been irrational fears of contagion and disapproval of the subcultures associated with the illness that have driven society's response to the epidemic. Has the legal community, which prides itself on being governed by due process and rationality, reacted any differently than society at large? To what degree have legal decisions and policies been governed by fear, prejudice, and ignorance rather than by science and sound public policy? This Essay will explore the response of …

Go to article

A Moral Standard For The Prosecutor's Exercise Of The Charging Discretion, Bennett L. Gershman Jan 1993

A Moral Standard For The Prosecutor's Exercise Of The Charging Discretion, Bennett L. Gershman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The prosecutor's decision to institute criminal charges is the broadest and least regulated power in American criminal law. The judicial deference shown to prosecutors generally is most noticeable with respect to the charging function. This Essay discusses three hypothetical cases that present both realistic and recurring challenges to the prosecutor's charging power. The first case depends on a factual determination of a witness's reliability. The second case depends on a factual determination of the witness's truthfulness. The third case revolves around a legal determination regarding the applicability of a defense. Together, these cases provide a setting in which a moral …

Go to article

The Urban Crimnal Justice System: A Case Of Fairness, John F. Keenan Jan 1993

The Urban Crimnal Justice System: A Case Of Fairness, John F. Keenan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This short essay contains the presiding judges recollections of the case People v. Robles as a way to discuss public perception of fairness in the criminal justice system.

Go to article

Urban Criminal Justice: No Fairer Than The Larger Society, Joanne Page Jan 1993

Urban Criminal Justice: No Fairer Than The Larger Society, Joanne Page

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay reflects the author's personal perspective on the fairness of the criminal justice system. She argues that the key to assessing the fairness of the system is to examine it, not in isolation, but within a larger social context. The criminal justice system is part of the larger society, shares its values and is shaped by its allocation of resources. The criminal justice system is consistent with the values of that larger society: It treats the lives of poor people and people of color as being of inferior worth, skewing its intervention toward control and punishment rather than toward …

Go to article

The Urban Criminal Justice System: Where Young + Black + Male = Probable Cause, Elizabeth A. Gaynes Jan 1993

The Urban Criminal Justice System: Where Young + Black + Male = Probable Cause, Elizabeth A. Gaynes

Fordham Urban Law Journal

We live in a country where one out of four young African-American men is under some form of custodial supervision. In our nation's capital, seven out of ten African-American men can anticipate being arrested and jailed at least once before reaching the age of thirty-five. We live in a city where a black man between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four is far more likely to die of homicide than all other causes combined. The official response to the problem of urban crime by minority youth has been prison, prison, and more prison. This essay provides an overview and examples …

Go to article

Curing America's Addiction To Prisons, David C. Leven Jan 1993

Curing America's Addiction To Prisons, David C. Leven

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Our prisons have failed society because they do not, generally, provide an experience that is likely to help offenders overcome the obstacles that led them to make mistakes for which they are now being punished. Instead, they reinforce the violence and exploitation that many offenders were sentenced to prison for in the first place. They have failed because they do not promote restoration, a key to successful reintegration, and nobody benefits when offenders are more dangerous when they are released than when they entered prison. This Essay proposes that a restorative model of justice replace our failed punitive model. By …

Go to article

The High Cost Of Juvenile Justice, Diane Ridley Gatewood Jan 1993

The High Cost Of Juvenile Justice, Diane Ridley Gatewood

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay will discuss the high cost of incarcerating substantial numbers of minority juveniles and will advocate alternatives to detention. The author discusses how minority youth are disproportionately affected at multiple stages of the criminal justice process: arrests, detentions, adjudication, and disposition. The Essay further discusses the increased use of the prison system for juveniles. The Essay concludes with several recommendations for how minority youth can be treated more fairly within the system and recommends alternatives to incarceration.

Go to article

Needed: A Community Experiment In Problem-Oriented Justice, Felice Kirby, Michael Clark, Tim Wall Jan 1993

Needed: A Community Experiment In Problem-Oriented Justice, Felice Kirby, Michael Clark, Tim Wall

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This essay examines some of the problems widely perceived to exist within the criminal justice system. Our experience is that when both the community and the police communicate and become more involved with each other, notable successes have transpired. The strategy of community policing affords the police agency, and through it the community at large, a chance for problem-solving every time an officer responds to an incident. This is in contrast to what is now considered traditional policing, whereby a 911 operator, removed from the scene of the incident, dispatches officers and then urges them to move on as soon …

Go to article

Maiming The Soul: Judges, Sentencing And The Myth Of The Nonviolent Rapist, Lynn Hecht Schafran Jan 1993

Maiming The Soul: Judges, Sentencing And The Myth Of The Nonviolent Rapist, Lynn Hecht Schafran

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Rape, by definition and in sentencing, is a crime that is predicated on a male-defined concept of violence. The lack of knowledge about rape trauma produces erroneous assessments or rape and erroneous sentences for rapists. The inability to recognize the damage cause by a "nonviolent" rape trivializes the seriousness of the crime and devalues the individual victim. Judges and attorneys must expand their definitions of violence to include injury to the victim's psyche.

Go to article

Should Judges Consider The Demographics Of The Jury Pool In Deciding Change Of Venue Application?, Peter M. Kougasian Jan 1993

Should Judges Consider The Demographics Of The Jury Pool In Deciding Change Of Venue Application?, Peter M. Kougasian

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay considers the narrow question of whether, in changing venue, a court ought in principle to consider the demographic diversity of the venue. Deciding this issue require consideration of two preliminary questions: what is an impartial jury? And what role, if any, does racial diversity play in empaneling an impartial jury? The Rodney King trial raises questions about the dynamics of the jury panel, rather than the qualifications of individual jurors. After the Rodney King verdict, the Court's reasoning in the Batson line of cases seems naive for two reasons. First, the Court's faith in the ability of voire …

Go to article

"A Good Murder", Leigh B. Bienen Jan 1993

"A Good Murder", Leigh B. Bienen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

People are profoundly interested in crimes because the law and legal punishments are supposed to address the fundamental human craving for justice. Courts are embedded in this system of law because we do not rust individuals alone or groups to judge fairly. This essay will describe a pattern which emerged when researchers examined all homicide cases in the state of New Jersey during the years immediately after the reimposition of capital punishment in 1982. Particularly relevant is the pattern of capital punishment for urban and suburban murders, and how those cases were regarded by law enforcement, the media, and the …

Go to article

Dispelling The Myths About The "Battered Woman's Defense:" Towards A New Understanding, Michael Dowd Jan 1992

Dispelling The Myths About The "Battered Woman's Defense:" Towards A New Understanding, Michael Dowd

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This essay explores the growth of the use of self-defense by battered women from a historical perspective in order to explain the magnitude of the prejudices these defendants face. The essay suggests that a redefinition of Battered Woman's Syndrome will ease much of the criticism from feminists and eliminate the confusion in the legal profession surrounding the use of self-defense by battered women. The essay also pushes for a redefinition of the concept of "imminence" to encompass the realities of a battered woman's life.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last