Criminal Law Commons^™

A Return To The Grand Jury To Promote A Zen Zeal In Prosecutors, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

DNA evidence has freed at least 209 convicted people. Sometimes DNA evidence exonerates a person. Other times, it does not. When it does not exonerate, a prosecutor must decide whether to persist in further prosecution of the defendant. I propose a fresh, but simple, solution for prosecutors who face such choices. To protect the interests of defendants and victims, and to assuage society’s need for fair and accurate outcomes, prosecutors should represent these cases to a grand jury. The grand jury is an easily convened neutral party that can dispassionately evaluate the evidence, old and new, and determine whether a …

Regulating Intrastate Crime: How The Federal Kidnapping Act Blurs The Distinction Between What Is Truly National And What Is Truly Local, Colin V. Ram

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Karen E. Woody, Putting Pandora On Trial, 98 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 699 (2008) (Reviewing Mark A. Drumbl, Atrocity, Punishment, And International Law (2007)), Karen E. Woody

Scholarly Articles

In the wake of increasing globalization over the past fifty years, international criminal law has transformed from a toothless shadow into a concrete reality; the International Criminal Court is the most recent and impressive institutional accomplishment. Unfortunately, international criminal law has enjoyed this progress on the heels of increasingly horrific international crimes. International adjudicatory institutions have taken many forms and the sentences they deliver have varied widely. In Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law, Mark Drumbl reviews the strides made in international criminal law from the Nuremberg trials through present-day trials, particularly those related to the crimes committed in Rwanda and …

Finding A Happy And Ethical Medium Between A Prosecutor Who Believes The Defendant Didn't Do It And The Boss Who Says That He Did, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The increasing prevalence of DNA testing has proven that, at times, our criminal justice system renders wrongful convictions. Extrapolating from such significant errors, we can infer that smaller mistakes also occur. Because criminal prosecution is not an exact science, like DNA evidence, prosecutors can disagree about aspects of a case-whether to reward a cooperating defendant with a sentence reduction, whether to indict a defendant under a mandatory minimum statute, and even whether a defendant is guilty of a crime. This Essay examines the tension that arises when the prosecutor handling a case disagrees with her boss about one or more …

The Return Of Reasonableness: Saving The Fourth Amendment From The Supreme Court, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Although there is no recipe for defining Fourth Amendment reasonableness, the Supreme Court produces its most anomalous Fourth Amendment outcomes when it decides "mixed" questions of reasonableness, assessing issues that turn on how ordinary, prudent citizens think and behave. The Court treats these mixed issues, combinations of fact and law, as if they raise purely legal questions. But mixed issues are more complex and require someone to determine historical facts, apply those facts to principles of Fourth Amendment law, and consider the totality of the circumstances, including taking into account community and cultural influences. The Supreme Court will take its …

Transnational Terrorist Financing: Criminal And Civil Perspectives, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This note addresses the proscription of terrorist financing under transnational law. It considers both criminal and civil regulatory frameworks. Although the 9/11 attacks certainly galvanized jurisgeneration in this area, important treaties and customary principles preexisted those attacks. Insofar as the law on this topic is quite robust, this note does not provide a typology of every legal prohibition that touches upon terrorist financing. Instead, it offers an overview of the subject matter through case-studies drawn from international treaties and Alien Tort Claims Act litigation in the United States, and it also places the regulatory framework of terrorist financing within both …

Prosecutors "Doing Justice" Through Osmosis—Reminders To Encourage A Culture Of Cooperation, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Cooperating defendants have proven to be necessary and valuable tools in preventing crime and prosecuting criminals. Federal prosecutors must exercise vigilance to thoughtfully decide how best to pursue the information cooperating defendants can provide. Such informed and good-faith judgment calls will inevitably require every prosecutor to weigh "the relative value or importance of different rights and interests and decide what, if any, action to take in response to a given tip. The DOJ and the ninety-three U.S. Attorneys can foster good decision-making by developing a culture of "doing justice" in which every prosecutor is encouraged.

Introductory Note To Genocide Accountability Act, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

On December 21, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 (GAA) (Public Law 110-151). Co-sponsored on a bipartisan basis by several Senators, this bill passed in the Senate on March 29, 2007, and passed in the House .of Representatives on December 5, 2007, in both cases by voice vote. The GAA received considerable support from human rights groups throughout the legislative process.

Proceedings Of The Second International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, Sixtieth Anniversary Of The Genocide Convention: The Power Of A Word, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Introductory lecture to the Second Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted sixty years ago. The legacy of the Genocide Convention is inextricable from the legacy of Nuremberg and the legal work of the Nuremberg prosecutors, some of whom join us today. To this end, celebrating Nuremberg also means celebrating the Genocide Convention.

Rape And The Exception In Turkish And International Law, Ruth A. Miller

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Comment suggests, first, that Turkey's new (2004) rape law is indebted to recent trends in international sexual legislation, and second, that both Turkish and international rape law are in turn the product of a century of European exceptionalism. The 2004 Turkish criminal code is a text that has redefined the Turkish state's approach to issues ranging from torture to corruption to immigrant smuggling to rape and adultery. Fundamentally a domestic document, it is aimed at rearticulating and liberalizing the state-citizen relationship in Turkey. At the same time, it is emphatically an international text-a spectacle geared toward moving Turkey one …

Twenty-Five Years Of Hudood Ordinances- A Review, Martin Lau

Washington and Lee Law Review

Shortly after coming into power in 1979, General Zia ul-Haq began to Islamize the Pakistan legal system. One measure used to convert Pakistan into an Islamic state was the introduction of hadd offenses-those offenses for which the Qur'an prescribed fixed punishments-into the criminal law. This Article specifically examines the impact of one of these provisions, the Offense of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, on sexual offenses under the Pakistan Penal Code. This statute criminalized all forms of adultery and fornication outside of a legally valid marriage, including instances of rape where the burden of proof had not been met. In …

Rico At The Border: Interpreting Anza V. Ideal Steel Supply Corp. And Its Effect On Immigration Enforcement, Megan Martha Reed

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Expressive Value Of Prosecuting And Punishing Terrorists: Hamdan, The Geneva Conventions, And International Criminal Law, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions that had been proposed by the Executive to prosecute a small number of detainees captured in the 'war on terror' could not proceed. In response to the Hamdan decision, Congress enacted a new military commission structure in the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA), which President Bush signed on October 17, 2006. The MCA establishes military commissions for aliens classified as unlawful enemy combatants. It lists the crimes chargeable by such commissions. The MCA also amends domestic legislation - for example, the War Crimes Act - initially …

Prosecutor V. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Décision Sur La Confirmation Des Charges. Case No. Icc-01/04-01/06, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

On January 29, 2007, in Prosecutor v. Lubanga Dyilo, Pre-trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed war crimes charges against Lubanga for conscripting, enlisting, and using children under the age of fifteen in a rebel force under his command.

In sum, Pre-trial Chamber I held that there was sufficient evidence to support the charges on the theory of Lubanga's individual criminal responsibility. On March 6, 2007, in accordance with Rome Statute Article 67(11),the presidency constituted Trial Chamber I, which will try Lubangaand pronounce on his guilt or innocence, which must be established beyond reasonable doubt.On June …

Book Review, Transitional Justice In The Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth Versus Justice (Naomi Roht-Arriaza & Javier Mariezcurrena Eds., 2006) And Reconciliation In Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground (Erin Daly & Jeremy Sarkin Eds., 2006), Mark Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

It took a long time to get there but, near the close of the last millennium, humanity embraced measured accountability – instead of the extremes of impunity or vengeance – as the appropriate fate for perpetrators of mass atrocity. This embrace has prompted the construction of institutions, such as the International Criminal Court and the various ad hoc international or internationalized tribunals, to actualize this accountability imperative.

But this institution-building is only the start of the justice matrix. It is not the end point. A newer second generation of scholars and activists presses on. Agreeing on the need for accountability …

Practice What You Preach: How Restorative Justice Could Solve The Judicial Problems In Clergy Sexual Abuse Cases, Diana L. Grimes

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where To Go From Here? The Roberts Court At The Crossroads Of Sentencing, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

As the Supreme Court has turned federal sentencing upside down in Booker, it has left a host of open questions in the wake of that decision. The outcome of these questions is often difficult to predict, for lower courts and commentators alike, as the Court has failed to develop an overarching sentencing philosophy to replace the rehabilitation-focused one that animated sentencing for so long. If the Court were to reach consensus on that issue, it would be better able to speak coherently on unresolved sentencing matters. This introduction to an Issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter highlights some of the …

The Price Of Pretrial Release: Can We Afford To Keep Our Fourth Amendment Rights?, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Fourth Amendment serves an important constitutional function. It protects the privacy of Americans from intrusions on their personal security. Few rights are held more sacred. When a person is arrested and faces the real likelihood of pretrial detention in jail, the person risks not only a reduction in his privacy rights, but also a loss of his liberty. In such circumstances, the arrested person should be able to bargain away some of his Fourth Amendment rights in exchange for the additional freedoms associated with release to home.

Undoubtedly, defendants forced to choose between incarceration and Fourth Amendment rights will …

In Booker'S Shadow: Restitution Forces A Second Debate On Honesty In Sentencing, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Supreme Court's January 2005 decision in Booker should induce Congress to enact legislation to remedy the constitutional invalidity of the MVRA and encourage the Department of Justice to revisit how restitution is charged, indicted, negotiated in plea agreements, proven at trial, and presented at sentencing hearings. The Booker decision is also a reminder to lower federal courts to adhere to the rule announced by the Supreme Court in Hughey v. United States, which limits the reach of orders of restitution. Congress, DOJ, and the federal courts should insist on candor in charging and sentencing to remedy the restitution …

Third Party Consent Searches And The Fourth Amendment: Refusal, Consent, And Reasonableness, Elizabeth A. Wright

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Race And The Death Penalty After Mccleskey: A Case Study Of Kentucky's Racial Justice Act, Justin R. Arnold

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Pluralizing International Criminal Justice, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This Review Essay of Philippe Sands' (ed.) From Nuremberg to the Hague (2003) explores a number of controversial aspects of the theory and praxis of international criminal law. The Review Essay traces the extant heuristic of international criminal justice institutions to Nuremberg and posits that the Nuremberg experience suggests the need for modesty about what criminal justice actually can accomplish in the wake of mass atrocity. It also explores the place of one person's guilt among organic crime, the reality that international criminal law may gloss over criminogenic conditions in its pursuit of individualized accountability, the possibility of group sanction …

Thwarting A New Start? Foreign Convictions, Sentencing And Collateral Sanctions, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Since When Is Dicta Enough To Trump Fourth Amendment Rights? The Aftermath Of Florida V. J.L., Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Unfortunately for individual liberty, and the inestimable right to personal security, the Supreme Court's extraneous language in its otherwise, well-reasoned decision in Florida v. J.L., and the lower federal courts' interpretation of that extraneous language, have jeopardized the Constitutional right to be free from capricious stops and frivolous frisks, both of which necessarily intrude on the sanctity of the person and sometimes "inflict great indignity and arouse strong resentment . . . ." When read logically and narrowly, the J.L. decision holds that an anonymous telephone tip, alone, does not give law enforcement a sufficient legal basis to stop or …

Collective Violence And Individual Punishment: The Criminality Of Mass Atrocity, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

There is a recent proliferation of courts and tribunals to prosecute perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The zenith of this institution-building is the permanent International Criminal Court, which came into force in 2002. Each of these new institutions rests on the foundational premise that it is appropriate to treat the perpetrator of mass atrocity in the same manner that domestic criminal law treats the common criminal. The modalities and rationales of international criminal law are directly borrowed from the domestic criminal law of those states that dominate the international order. In this Article, I challenge this …

Law And Atrocity: Settling Accounts In Rwanda, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Ten years ago, genocide ravaged the tiny African nation of Rwanda. In the wake of this violence, Rwanda has struggled to reconstruct, rebuild, and reconcile. Law-in particular, criminal trials for alleged perpetrators of genocide- has figured prominently among various policy mechanisms in postgenocide Rwanda. Criminal trials for Rwandan genocidaires' aspire to achieve several goals. These include exacting retribution, promoting reconciliation, deterring future violence, expressing victims' outrage, maintaining peace, and cultivating a culture of human rights.2 In this Lecture, I examine the extent to which these trials attain these multiple, often competing, and largely overwhelming goals. Part I begins by setting …

Plea Bargaining At The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, Ralph Henham, Mark Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) increasingly has turned to plea bargains to resolve the cases before it. A number of factors motor this trend. One is administrative: the ICTY has been subject to considerable pressure from the United Nations Security Council and donor states to accelerate its work. Another is the desire to obtain acknowledgements of responsibility from perpetrators. Moreover, there is concern that, as time passes, the memories of witnesses dim. The rigours of direct and cross-examination may retraumatise those who have survived mass atrocity. ICTY judges also have expressed their understanding that guilty pleas …

The Ictr And Justice For Rwandan Women, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

In this article, I hope to spring from the discussion of the ICTR's gender jurisprudence to a broader conversation that touches on the relationship between this jurisprudence and life for Rwandan women today. In particular, I'd like to consider three questions: What do both the gender jurisprudence and the jurisprudence at large of the ICTR mean to women, individually and collectively, in Rwanda? How do other modalities of accountability that operate in postgenocide Rwanda respond to gender violence and promote gender equality? What is the situation of Rwandan women today?

'Lesser Evils' In The War On Terrorism, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Rights, Culture, And Crime: The Role Of Rule Of Law For The Women Of Afghanistan, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This Article explores the role of rule of law in redressing crimes and human rights abuses committed against the women of Afghanistan. Mainstream discourse approaches the situation binarily, obliging women to choose between international and often distant human rights, on the one hand, or proximate cultural/religious norms, on the other, in order to adjudicate gender crimes. This can lead either to externalized justice or, in the case of the implementation of Afghan local law, to renewed victimization of women in the name of redressing abuses suffered by other women. Local law in Afghanistan is reflected in codes such as the …