Criminal Law Commons^™

Evidence: Prior Crimes And Prior Bad Acts Evidence, Paul W. Grimm

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Metaphysics Of Punishment–An Exercise In Futility, William K.S. Wang

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, David Rossman

Faculty Scholarship

The Constitutionality of the Trial de Novo System. The legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Massachusetts trial de novo system was settled by the Supreme Court of the United States during the Survey year in Ludwig v. Massachusetts. The Court upheld the Commonwealth's practice of trial de novo finding that the system does not constitute an impermissible burden upon a defendant's right to a trial by jury and that the requirement that a defendant undergo two trials in order to obtain a jury trial is not a violation of the right against double jeopardy.

The Metamorphosis Of Larceny, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

To the modern lawyer, the rules of common law theft offenses do not seem ordered by any coherent principle. In this Article, however, Professor Fletcher shows that the common law of larceny can be understood in terms of two structural principles, possessorial immunity and manifest criminality. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the modern style of legal thought evolved, first commentators and then courts lost their ability to understand these principles and came to rely on intent as the central element of criminal liability. As a result of this transformation, Professor Fletcher argues, the range of circumstances that can …

Parole Revocation And The Right To Counsel, Paul W. Grimm

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Sentencing Reform: Emerging Legal Issues In The Individualization Of Justice, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

The dilemma of the American sentencing judge is qualitatively unique. Because our system of criminal justice has embraced to a degree unequaled elsewhere the rehabilitative ideal that punishment should fit not the crime, but the particular criminal, the sentencing judge must labor to fulfill the dual and sometimes conflicting roles of judge and clinician. Entrusted with enormous discretion, he is expected to "individualize" the sentence he imposes to suit the character, social history, and potential for recidivism of the offender before him. Yet, because of the general absence in our Sentencing Reform system of meaningful procedures for the appellate review …

The Victim's Role In Criminal Prosecutions In Ethiopia, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to review developments which have occurred in the victim’s role in criminal prosecutions under Ethiopian law. In contrast to the penal laws of modern Western states, which define a wide range of wrongful conduct as offensive to the state itself, the traditional Ethiopian law of wrongs viewed relatively few offenses thus. For the most part, the state confined itself to legitimating and assisting the victim’s own efforts to obtain redress.

Criminal Law And Procedure, David Rossman

Faculty Scholarship

Trial De Novo. The constitutional foundation underlying the system of trial de novo in Massachusetts was subjected to a frontal assault during the Survey year. The system survived, but there is reason to doubt its continuing validity. The debate over the wisdom of maintaining a two-tiered system of trial courts has been wide-ranging. One of the chief complaints against the trial de novo system is that it insulates trial judges from any meaningful appellate review. This isolation fosters an environment in which trial judges can, with impunity, ignore the constraints placed upon judges in courts of record. It is exceedingly …

The Right Deed For The Wrong Reason: A Reply To Mr. Robinson, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

So far as there is a school of criminal theory in the United States, it is a school devoted to sifting and celebrating the purposes of the criminal law. Discussions in the literature are dominated by endless recitals of the deterrent, rehabilitative and retributive functions of criminal sanctions. The orthodox view is that all of these purposes are relevant and that any proposed rule of criminal law must be measured by its tendency to further one or all of these goals. If the issue is punishing negligence, for example, the standard mode of analysis is to ask whether punishing negligent …

The Individualization Of Excusing Conditions, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The excusing conditions of the criminal law are variations of the theme "I couldn't help myself' or "I didn't mean to do it." In this respect the defenses known as necessity, duress, insanity and mistake of law are but extensions of homely, routine apologies for causing harm and violating the rules of social and family life. While we use the plea "I couldn't help myself" to cover the full range of excusing circumstances, each of the formal excuses of the criminal law has a limited sphere. As a general matter, these spheres are dictated by the type of circumstances rendering …

The Hunting Of The Shark: An Inquiry Into The Limits Of Congressional Power Under The Commerce Clause, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Indigent's Right To A Transcript Of Record, Larry Yackle

Faculty Scholarship

There is no more fascinating subject in the field of federal constitutional law than the relationship between due process and equal protection, concepts brought together in the fourteenth amendment. Governmental action that is fundamentally unfair and a denial of due process may also involve discriminatory treatment and a denial of equal protection.' Accordingly, in a number of cases the distinction between the two concepts has been blurred. In Douglas v. California, the Supreme Court held that on first appeal counsel must be furnished to indigents at state expense because the failure to provide professional representation is both fundamentally unfair and …

Traditional Criminal Procedure In Ethiopia, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

In the decade 1955-1965 the Ethiopian government completely revolutionized its legal system by promulgating comprehensive legal codes and a new constitution. These laws have a predominantly Western flavor, and seem to bear little relation to the traditional patterns of life which still prevail in the Empire-one of the least "developed" areas of Africa. This state of affairs has led some to characterize the new codes as "fantasy law," which may serve to put a modern "face" on the country but, at least for some time to come, will not have any serious impact on the conduct of its affairs.

The Grand Jury As The New Inquisition, Michael E. Tigar, Madeline R. Levy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Population Control, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

Several important questions can be asked about criminal law and the population problem. One is how greatly overpopulation, with its contribution to poverty and urban crowding, is a cause of crime, and, obversely, the extent to which population control would be a form of crime control. Another question is how much population growth increases the range of behavior that is and should be covered by criminal sanctions. Although these and other questions deserve attention, the purpose of this article is more modest – to consider possible changes in criminal law that could help ease the population problem.

The Theory Of Criminal Negligence: A Comparative Analysis, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

Negligence is a problematic ground for criminal liability. Every major Western legal system punishes negligent as well as intentional violations of protected interests; but theorists both here and abroad feel uneasy about the practice Negligent motoring and negligent manufacturing significantly threaten the public interest; yet Western judges seem more comfortable punishing counterfeiters and prostitutes than imposing sanctions against those who inadvertently take unreasonable risks. Negligence appears indeed to be an inferior, almost aberrant ground for criminal liability. Every interest protected by the criminal law is protected against intentional violations; but only a few-life, bodily integrity, and sometimes property-are secured against …

Decision Trees, Peter L. Strauss, Michael R. Topping

Faculty Scholarship

The object of this paper is to inform those concerned with the administration of justice in Ethiopia – particularly, criminal justice – about a new and simple procedure which may assist in procuring uniform interpretation and application of laws and regulations. The problem of uniform interpretation and application is particularly severe where, as in Ethiopia, new laws must be interpreted and applied by persons who have not yet had the opportunity of formal legal education. For these persons the discovery of the relevant code articles and the understanding of their interrelationships and application must be very difficult indeed. One possible …

Criminal Justice In Extremis: Administration Of Justice During The April 1968 Chicago Disorder, Mark N. Aaronson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"Uncontrollable" Actions And The Eighth Amendment: Implications Of Powell V. Texas, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

No questions of criminal justice are more fundamental than the bases for imposing criminal punishment, yet the Federal Constitution says nothing explicit about them. It is, therefore, understandable that the increasing limitations imposed by constitutional interpretation upon procedures for ascertaining criminal guilt have not been accompanied by similar limits upon principles of criminal responsibility. That the difference in treatment is understandable does not, of course, necessarily mean it has been justified.

When the Court struck down a law punishing addiction in Robinson v. California in 1962, it was still unclear whether it was willing to become significantly implicated in developing …

Criminal Justice 1968: Developments And Directions, A. Kenneth Pye

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Transatlantic Attitudes Toward Self-Incrimination, Kevin H. Tierney

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On Interpreting The Ethiopian Penal Code, Peter L. Strauss

Faculty Scholarship

The aim of this article is to set out and discuss some general principles of interpreting the Ethiopian Penal Code – that is to say, of using it. Even now, ten years after it came into effect, many people have difficulty in understanding and using the Penal Code in a straightforward way. It seems complex, and many of its fundamental conceptions are unfamiliar to Ethiopian lawyers. This article, discussing at length how the code is built, may help reduce its apparent complexity and thus facilitate its day-to-day application.

The Presumption Of Innocence In The Soviet Union, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The presumption of innocence is a curious item in the baggage of Western legal rhetoric. Revered today here and abroad, it has become a standard clause in international testimonials to the rights of man. Yet, at first blush, it seems conceptually anomalous and irrelevant in practice. It is hardly a presumption of fact – a distillation of common experience; statistics betray the suggestion that men indicted on criminal charges are likely to be innocent. Nor is it a legal rule masquerading as an irrebuttable presumption; it is rebuttable by proof beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt. Further, it …

The Consent Problem In Wiretapping & Eavesdropping: Surreptitious Monitoring With The Consent Of A Participant In A Conversation, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

The extent to which American society should permit wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping has been considered by judges, legislators and scholars for many years, although this consideration has yet to result in legal rules that respond rationally and consistently to the conflicting demands of privacy and effective law enforcement. Constitutional analysis has, until very recently, relied on concepts like "physical invasion of a constitutionally protected area," producing distinctions with little relation to underlying social values; statutory restrictions on wiretapping have been much more severe than those imposed on eavesdropping, though the latter, particularly in light of the rapidly developing technology, poses …

Two Kinds Of Legal Rules: A Comparative Study Of Burden-Of-Persuasion Practices In Criminal Cases, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

Good men everywhere praise the presumption of innocence. And be they Frenchmen, Germans, or Americans, they agree on the demand of the presumption in practice. Both here and abroad, the state's invocation of criminal sanctions demands a high degree of proof that the accused has committed the offense charged. To express the requisite standard of proof, common lawyers speak of the prosecutor's duty to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. And Continental lawyers invoke the maxim in dubio pro reo – a precept requiring triers of fact to acquit in cases of doubt.

The French speak of the presomption …

Compensation For Victims Of Violent Crimes: An Analysis, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Spurred by the implementation of plans in Great Britain, New Zealand, and California; and by various other federal and state proposals, the concept of state compensation to victims of violent crimes has recently become the subject of wide public interest and intensive legal debate. In essence, the concept envisages some scheme by which the victims of crimes of violence can be compensated for any losses resulting from their criminally inflicted injuries.

Before any proposals based on this conception are adopted they should be shown to have a valid theoretical framework, supported by sound legal principles, with an effective and efficient …

Review Of H.L.A. Hart, The Morality Of The Criminal Law, Oxford University Press (1965), Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

This slim volume contains the text of two lectures given by Professor Hart at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964. The first lecture, "Changing Conceptions of Responsibility," expresses concern at the turn in which the "liberal" criminal law reform movement in England has taken in connection with the law of criminal responsibility. Professor Hart takes issue with the stand of a leading reformer, Lady Wootton, who advocates abolition of the mens rea prerequisite to penal liability. In her view, the mental state of a harm-doer is relevant not to determining his penal liability (conviction), but only to the decision …

Criminal Law And Procedure, Henry Paul Monaghan

Faculty Scholarship

§12.1 Introduction. The recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the area of criminal procedure have begun to have a considerable impact upon litigation in the Massachusetts courts; indeed, for at least the second successive year the major emphasis of the Supreme Judicial Court's criminal law opinions centered upon considerations of "criminal due process." On the whole, the Court demonstrated an admirable concern for protecting the requirements of a fair trial. However, in at least two significant areas its decisions are open to considerable question: (1) in a series of opinions the Court confined the admittedly unclear …

Gideon's Army: Student Soldiers, Henry Paul Monaghan

Faculty Scholarship

Ours is a nation that takes great pride in the manner in which it administers justice to its citizens. To us, "equal justice under law" is not simply hollow rhetoric; it gives expression to some of our most fundamental values, and it proclaims that every man should be treated fairly and equally in the administration of the laws. It is, of course, of no small moment that we hold such an ideal, for a nation invites judgment on how well its performance comports with its professions of faith.

In the administration of our laws there is much to which we …

Main Trends In The Soviet Reform Of Criminal Law, Kazimierz Grzybowski

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.