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Seattle University School of Law

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Articles 331 - 360 of 453

Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law

The Admissibility Of Cell Site Location Information In Washington Courts, Ryan W. Dumm May 2013

The Admissibility Of Cell Site Location Information In Washington Courts, Ryan W. Dumm

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment principally explores when and how a party can successfully admit cell cite location information into evidence. Beginning with the threshold inquiry of relevance, Part III examines when cell site location information is relevant and in what circumstances the information, though relevant, could be unfairly prejudicial, cumulative, or confusing. Part IV provides the bulk of the analysis, which centers on the substantive foundation necessary to establish the information’s credibility and authenticity. Part V looks at three ancillary issues: hearsay, a criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment confrontation rights, and the introduction of a summary of voluminous records. Finally, Part VI offers …


“Lonesome Road”: Driving Without The Fourth Amendment, Lewis R. Katz May 2013

“Lonesome Road”: Driving Without The Fourth Amendment, Lewis R. Katz

Seattle University Law Review

The protections of the Fourth Amendment on the streets and highways of America have been drastically curtailed. This Article traces the debasement of Fourth Amendment protections on the road and how the Fourth Amendment’s core value of preventing arbitrary police behavior has been marginalized. This Article contends that the existence of a traffic offense should not be the end of the inquiry but the first step, and that defendants should be able to challenge the reasonableness even when there is proof of a traffic offense.


Prison Is Prison, Brooke Coleman Jan 2013

Prison Is Prison, Brooke Coleman

Faculty Articles

Two indigent men stand before two separate judges. Both will be sent to prison if they lose their cases. One receives appointed counsel, but the other does not. This discrepancy seems terribly unjust, yet the Supreme Court has no problem with it. It recently affirmed in Turner v. Rogers, that where an indigent individual is subject to criminal charges that can result in incarceration, he has a right to appointed counsel, but where an indigent individual is subject to civil proceedings where incarceration is a consequence, he does not. In other words, criminal and civil proceedings have different rules, and …


Casual Ostracism: Jury Exclusion On The Basis Of Criminal Convictions, Anna Roberts Jan 2013

Casual Ostracism: Jury Exclusion On The Basis Of Criminal Convictions, Anna Roberts

Faculty Articles

Statutes in forty-eight states permit the exclusion of those with felony convictions from criminal juries; thirteen states permit the exclusion of those with misdemeanor convictions. The reasons given for these exclusions, which include the assumption that those with convictions are embittered against the state, do not justify their costs. Procedural justice theories indicate that embitterment of those with criminal convictions need not – and should not – be assumed. Rather, policymakers should do what they can to avoid such embitterment. This article therefore proposes that automatic statutory exclusions on the basis of criminal convictions should be abandoned. If a juror …


Review Of Colin Dayan’S The Law Is A White Dog: How Legal Rituals Make And Unmake Persons, Dean Spade Jan 2013

Review Of Colin Dayan’S The Law Is A White Dog: How Legal Rituals Make And Unmake Persons, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

Professor Dean Spade reviews Colin Dayan’s The Law Is a White Dog: How Legal Rituals Make and Unmake Persons.


Fugitives In Immigration: A Call For Legislative Guidelines On Disentitlement, Kiran H. Griffith Oct 2012

Fugitives In Immigration: A Call For Legislative Guidelines On Disentitlement, Kiran H. Griffith

Seattle University Law Review

In light of Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, the circuit courts of appeal have readily expanded the doctrine’s use to civil matters, as well as immigration. But the Supreme Court’s nuanced treatment of the rationales underlying this doctrine, specifically in Ortega-Rodriguez v. United States and Degen v. United States, has led to inconsistent application across the circuits. Specifically, a split has arisen among the Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits as to whether these rationales support invocation of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine to find fugitivity and dismiss an alien’s petition for review when an alien fails to …


The Revival Of Reliance And Prospectivity: Chevron Oil In The Immigration Context, Elliot Watson Oct 2012

The Revival Of Reliance And Prospectivity: Chevron Oil In The Immigration Context, Elliot Watson

Seattle University Law Review

Using Duran Gonzales as an example, this Comment discusses how courts determine when and if conflicting rules of law should be applied retroactively to aliens. Specifically, it argues that the holding in Nunez-Reyes and its use of the Chevron Oil test should be applied broadly to limit the retroactive application of law in certain immigration cases. Part II of this Comment gives a brief overview of Supreme Court retroactivity jurisprudence, the discretionary application of adjudicative retroactivity as described in Chevron Oil, and the Court’s recent shift toward a more conservative approach. Part III discusses how administrative law affects that framework …


Of Justice Sotomayor And The Jicarilla Apache Nation: Slouching Toward Intellectual Honesty And The Canons Of Construction, Jeremy Stevens Mar 2012

Of Justice Sotomayor And The Jicarilla Apache Nation: Slouching Toward Intellectual Honesty And The Canons Of Construction, Jeremy Stevens

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Public Nature Of Indian Reservation Roads, M. Brent Leonard Mar 2012

The Public Nature Of Indian Reservation Roads, M. Brent Leonard

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Enhancing Tribal Sovereignty By Protecting Indian Civil Rights: A Win-Win For Indian Tribes And Tribal Members, Rob Roy Smith Mar 2012

Enhancing Tribal Sovereignty By Protecting Indian Civil Rights: A Win-Win For Indian Tribes And Tribal Members, Rob Roy Smith

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Gas Tax Agreements In Indian Country, Jonathan White Mar 2012

Gas Tax Agreements In Indian Country, Jonathan White

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Justice Rehnquist’S Theory Of Indian Law: The Evolution From Mazurie To Atkinson – Where Did He Leave The Court?, Brenna Willott Mar 2012

Justice Rehnquist’S Theory Of Indian Law: The Evolution From Mazurie To Atkinson – Where Did He Leave The Court?, Brenna Willott

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Crimes Of Misery And Theories Of Punishment, John B. Mitchell Jan 2012

Crimes Of Misery And Theories Of Punishment, John B. Mitchell

Faculty Articles

Increasingly, one sees the homeless on the streets, alleys, and doorways of commercial, recreational, and living spaces of our cities otherwise populated by the affluent and relatively affluent. At the same time, there has been an increase in the creation and use of so-called “public order laws,” such as forbidding sitting on sidewalks, lying down on benches, and panhandling in certain tourist areas. Together with laws already on the books forbidding public intoxication, open containers of liquor in public and urinating in public, this suite of laws provide police with a means to control the day-to-day lives of the homeless …


Introduction, Hon. Steven C. Gonzàlez Apr 2011

Introduction, Hon. Steven C. Gonzàlez

Seattle University Law Review

At Seattle University School of Law’s Symposium on Racial Bias and the Criminal Justice System, students, faculty, judges, scholars, lawyers, and community members gathered to address racial disparity in the criminal justice system and to explore ways to keep the promise of our democracy that we all are equal before the law. Race, ethnicity, skin color, and national origin profoundly influence our legal structure and our liberty. The way that race influences perceptions and actions is critically important in the context of our criminal justice system—a system that changes lives, disrupts and protects communities, and represents a key part of …


“Like Wolves In Sheep’S Clothing”: Combating Racial Bias In Washington State’S Criminal Justice System, Krista L. Nelson, Jacob J. Stender Apr 2011

“Like Wolves In Sheep’S Clothing”: Combating Racial Bias In Washington State’S Criminal Justice System, Krista L. Nelson, Jacob J. Stender

Seattle University Law Review

Despite their differences, both the majority and concurring opinions in Monday present new ways to address prosecutorial misconduct, deter the injection of racial bias into courtroom proceedings, and create substantively similar outcomes. Part II of this Note discusses the traditional prosecutorial misconduct test in Washington State, as well as the rules articulated by the Monday majority and concurrence. Part III discusses the implications of both the majority and concurring opinions, the primary differences in their approaches to deterrence, the degree of racial bias they require to warrant reversal of a conviction, and the discretion they afford the judiciary. Part III …


Methodological Issues In Biased Policing Research With Applications To The Washington State Patrol, Clayton Mosher, J. Mitchell Pickerill Apr 2011

Methodological Issues In Biased Policing Research With Applications To The Washington State Patrol, Clayton Mosher, J. Mitchell Pickerill

Seattle University Law Review

Racial profiling violates the United States Constitution’s premise that all people are equal under the law, as well as the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee that people should be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Racial profiling has been found to result from individual officer racism or stereotyping, from institutionalized biases, and from the organizational culture of law enforcement agencies. We begin this Article by discussing the history of racial profiling before proceeding to consider various studies from a select number of American jurisdictions. We then examine important methodological and theoretical issues in conducting research on racial profiling and racially biased policing, …


Analyzing Stops, Citations, And Searches In Washington And Beyond, Mario L. Barnes, Robert S. Chang Apr 2011

Analyzing Stops, Citations, And Searches In Washington And Beyond, Mario L. Barnes, Robert S. Chang

Seattle University Law Review

Racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system is a fact. But the fact of racial disproportionality is the beginning and not the end of the conversation. The fact that blacks are overrepresented in stop, arrest, charge, pretrial detention, conviction, and incarceration statistics demonstrates only correlation and not causation. A number of commentators caution that disproportionality and the overrepresentation of blacks, Native-Americans, and Hispanics in Washington State’s prisons do not prove racial discrimination. Further, the fact of disproportionality at each stage of criminal justice processing does not prove that racial discrimination occurs at each particular stage. For example, the observed disproportionality …


Actual Versus Perceived Performance Of Judges, Theodore Eisenberg, Talia Fisher, Issi Rosen-Zvi Apr 2011

Actual Versus Perceived Performance Of Judges, Theodore Eisenberg, Talia Fisher, Issi Rosen-Zvi

Seattle University Law Review

Perceptions of judges ought to be based on their performance. Yet, few studies of the relation between perceived and actual judicial performance exist. Those claiming judicial bias should be especially sensitive to the relation between perception and performance. Judges perceived by the public or by the legal community as disfavoring a group may be regarded as biased, but that perception is unfair if the judges’ votes in cases do not disfavor the group. For example, it may be unfair to accuse an appellate judge of pro-state bias in criminal cases if the judge votes for defendants at a higher rate …


O.P.P.: How "Occupy's" Race-Based Privilege May Improve Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence For All, Lenese C. Herbert Apr 2011

O.P.P.: How "Occupy's" Race-Based Privilege May Improve Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence For All, Lenese C. Herbert

Seattle University Law Review

This Article submits that Occupy’s race problem could, ironically, prove to be a solution if protesters grow more serious about exposing the injury of political subordination and systems of privilege that adhere to the criminal justice system. Privilege is a “systemic conferral of benefit and advantage [as a result of] affiliation, conscious or not and chosen or not, to the dominant side of a power system.” Accordingly, now that police mistreatment affects them personally, Occupy may finally help kill a fictitious Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that ignores oppression through improper policing based on racial stigma. Occupy may also help usher in …


The Impact Of Implicit Racial Bias On The Exercise Of Prosecutorial Discretion, Robert J. Smith, Justin D. Levinson Apr 2011

The Impact Of Implicit Racial Bias On The Exercise Of Prosecutorial Discretion, Robert J. Smith, Justin D. Levinson

Seattle University Law Review

The Article is organized as follows: Part II provides an introduction to implicit bias research, orienting readers to the important aspects of implicit bias most relevant to prosecutorial discretion. Part III begins the examination of implicit bias in the daily decisions of prosecutors. The Part presents key prosecutorial discretion points and specifically connects each of them to implicit bias. Part IV recognizes that, despite compelling proof of implicit bias in a range of domains, there is no direct empirical proof of implicit bias in prosecutorial decision-making. It thus calls for an implicit bias research agenda designed to further examine how …


“If Justice Is Not Equal For All, It Is Not Justice”: Racial Bias, Prosecutorial Misconduct, And The Right To A Fair Trial In State V. Monday, Michael Callahan Apr 2011

“If Justice Is Not Equal For All, It Is Not Justice”: Racial Bias, Prosecutorial Misconduct, And The Right To A Fair Trial In State V. Monday, Michael Callahan

Seattle University Law Review

This Note argues that of the three opinions from Monday, Washington state courts should follow Chief Justice Madsen’s concurring opinion. The Monday decision also raises three questions that none of the opinions adequately answer: who does Monday apply to, what conduct does Monday forbid, and what is the legal source of the rules from Monday? The court will have to answer these questions in the future to determine the scope of its new rules. Part II of this Note discusses how Washington courts previously addressed the issue of prosecutorial misconduct and appeals to racial bias in trials. Part …


Slavery Revisited In Penal Plantation Labor, Andrea C. Armstrong Apr 2011

Slavery Revisited In Penal Plantation Labor, Andrea C. Armstrong

Seattle University Law Review

This Article argues that society must critically examine the types of labor we require our inmates to perform and prohibit the imposition of slavery, even when the enslaved is an inmate. Part II focuses on the text and history of Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment11 and argues that the Amendment’s exception allowing forced inmate labor is not as broad as it first appears. Part III examines the Eighth Amendment and how the imposition of slave status on inmates should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Lastly, Part IV applies these concepts to the history and operation of one such …


Dead Wrong: Why Washington’S Deadly Weapon Criminal Sentencing Enhancement Needs “Enhancement”, James Harlan Corning Apr 2011

Dead Wrong: Why Washington’S Deadly Weapon Criminal Sentencing Enhancement Needs “Enhancement”, James Harlan Corning

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment confronts the difficult question of how to reformulate the deadly weapon sentencing enhancement to better align it with the policy goals of deterring and punishing armed crime. Part II explores the constitutional and practical defects in each of the three formulations of the sentencing enhancement’s armed requirement by delving into the enhancement’s legislative history and the judicial struggle to interpret it. Part III analyzes the need for a more nuanced approach to the weapon enhancement by exploring key criticisms about the enhancement’s scope and application. Part IV argues that the Washington legislature must provide courts with more rigid …


Domestic Violence And The Budget Crisis: The Use Of A Risk Assessment Tool To Manage Cases In Prosecutors’ Offices, Carrie M. Hobbs Apr 2011

Domestic Violence And The Budget Crisis: The Use Of A Risk Assessment Tool To Manage Cases In Prosecutors’ Offices, Carrie M. Hobbs

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment addresses the growing concern that the incompatible forces of shrinking budgets and increased caseloads are leading to ineffective domestic violence case management, particularly in prosecutors’ offices. With so many cases and so few resources, prosecutors need tools to discern which cases should have priority. Recognizing that risk assessment tools have many drawbacks, this Comment advocates for development of a risk assessment tool that can help prosecutors determine which cases to pursue and assist them in making other pretrial determinations. Part II of this Comment provides a background on domestic violence research and isolates the issues that arise in …


Preliminary Report On Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System, Task Force On Race And The Criminal Justice System Apr 2011

Preliminary Report On Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System, Task Force On Race And The Criminal Justice System

Seattle University Law Review

For this Report, the Research Working Group reviewed evidence on disproportionality in Washington’s criminal justice system and considered whether crime commission rates accounted for this disproportionality. We found that crime commission rates by race and ethnicity are largely unknown and perhaps unknowable, but that some researchers simply take arrest rates as good proxies for underlying commission rates for all crimes.We found that use of arrest rates likely overstates black crime commission rates for several reasons.68 But even if arrest rates are used as a proxy for underlying crime commission rates, the extent of racial disproportionality is not explained by commission …


A Call For Judicial Scrutiny: How Increased Judicial Discretion Has Led To Disparity And Unpredictability In Federal Sentencings For Child Pornography, Loren Rigsby Jan 2010

A Call For Judicial Scrutiny: How Increased Judicial Discretion Has Led To Disparity And Unpredictability In Federal Sentencings For Child Pornography, Loren Rigsby

Seattle University Law Review

The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) has made child pornography related crimes among the most harshly punishable federal offenses. Nevertheless, sentencing judges have regained the right to depart from the recommended Federal Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines). The Guideline range for child pornography reflects sound and clear congressional intent to impose harsh penalties on defendants to deter, and ultimately eliminate, the market for child pornography. For this reason, this Comment argues that sentences that fall outside the Guidelines range should be reviewed with much greater scrutiny and should not be used solely to reflect a judge’s view that the advised sentence is …


Methademic: Drug Panic In An Age Of Ambivalence, Deborah Ahrens Jan 2010

Methademic: Drug Panic In An Age Of Ambivalence, Deborah Ahrens

Faculty Articles

The story of criminal sanctions in modern America is a familiar-and depressing narrative. According to the narrative, we live in an era where the dynamics of popular politics, the practices of the media, and the (often racialized) anxieties of modern life combine to create a one-way ratchet, in which we identify perceived new threats to public order and respond unthinkingly with harsh new criminal sanctions. On the surface, the wave of concern over methamphetamine that swept the nation in the middle part of this decade followed this script, as a media panic led to substantial popular concern and significant new …


Dodging Mistrials With A Mandatory Jury Inquiry Rule, Missy Mordy Jan 2009

Dodging Mistrials With A Mandatory Jury Inquiry Rule, Missy Mordy

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment considers the concept of a jury inquiry and concludes that, with a mandatory jury inquiry rule, judges will ensure that the public ends of justice are met before a mistrial is declared. Part II of this Comment examines the United States v. Razmilovic trial to give a concrete example of how a jury inquiry would have prevented a hastily declared mistrial. Part III.A examines the circuit trend regarding the definition of "manifest necessity." Toward the end of the 1970s, many circuits began to opine that jury inquiries were important when attempting to determine whether there was manifest necessity, …


Calling Your Bluff: How Prosecutors And Defense Attorneys Adapt Pleas Bargaining Strategies To Increased Formalization, Deirdre Bowen Jan 2009

Calling Your Bluff: How Prosecutors And Defense Attorneys Adapt Pleas Bargaining Strategies To Increased Formalization, Deirdre Bowen

Faculty Articles

This ethnographic work examines the inner workings of a highly formalized plea bargaining unit in a large urban prosecutor's office from the lawyers' point of view. Observations of forty-two plea negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys along with both formal and informal interviews reveal how the legal actors adapt to institutional rules in the pursuit of both efficiency and justice. In the face of ever increasing prosecutorial power, defense attorneys find ways to equalize the balance when cases do not fit the "normal crimes" model. Examination of negotiating strategy and discourse give further insight into whether prosecutors and defense attorneys …


Habeas Corpus Law In The Ninth Circuit After Mendoza V. Carey: A New Era?, Jay W. Spencer Jan 2008

Habeas Corpus Law In The Ninth Circuit After Mendoza V. Carey: A New Era?, Jay W. Spencer

Seattle University Law Review

After a brief review in Part II of the current habeas corpus appeals practice following the enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA),9 Part III of this Note will examine the factual and procedural history of Mendoza. Next, Part IV will analyze the case's majority and dissenting opinions. Finally, Part V contrasts Mendoza with factually similar cases in other jurisdictions and demonstrates that, even though the Ninth Circuit stands alone, its ruling strikes a proper balance between limiting abuse of the writ and ensuring that it remains available to all inmates who diligently pursue …