Criminal Law Commons^™

Southern Violence-Regional Problem Or National Nemesis?: Legal Attitudes Toward Southern Homicide In Historical Perspective, Richard M. Brown

Vanderbilt Law Review

Both inside and outside the South, was the law a cause of the high incidence of homicide, or was it an effect? It was probably more effect than cause, for despite the anti-homicide rigor of its supreme court, on the whole the incidence of killing in Alabama seems to have been no lower than elsewhere in the South. Thus, the conservative Alabama court apparently failed to stem not only the legal trend of the Americanization of the common law of homicide but also the trend of blood-letting in Alabama. In one way this is not surprising, for after all, the …

Foreword, James W. Ely, Terry Calvani

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the hope of giving some direction for a regional approach to the legal past of the South, Vanderbilt Law School, with the generous assistance of the University Research Council, sponsored a two-day Symposium on this important topic in the spring of 1978 and invited leading scholars to participate. Principal papers by Richard Maxwell Brown, Maxwell H. Bloomfield, Robert M. Ireland, A. E. Keir Nash, and Robert J. Haws and Michael V. Namorato discussed diverse aspects of southern legal history.

Law And Disorder In Nineteenth-Century Kentucky, Robert M. Ireland

Vanderbilt Law Review

Nineteenth-century Kentuckians responded paradoxically to their criminal justice system. Although they complained constantly about the inadequacies of their constabulary, they refused to appropriate funds necessary to establish more efficient police forces. And while they carped continually about the ineffectiveness and ineptitude of prosecutors, the slowness and timidity of judges, the permissiveness of juries, and the leniency of governors, they also expressed equal concern about the rights of the accused and the convicted. By their ambivalence, nineteenth-century Kentuckians reflected an internal conflict that historically has characterized the response of Americans to the problem of crime. A free and dynamic society inevitably …

Individual Liability Of Agents For Corporate Crimes Under The Proposed Federal Criminal Code, Stephen D. Goodwin

Vanderbilt Law Review

In discussing the contours of individual liability under section 403, this Note has not attempted to criticize the section's draftsmanship or counsel against its adoption. The philosophy of liability reflected in section 403 wisely avoids the imposition of vicarious liability on corporate officials. The defendant's personal misconduct, failure to act, or reckless failure to supervise invoke the sanctions of the provisions. In addition, subsections (b) and (c) provide a theoretical underpinning for punishing omissions that is preferable to the indicia of artificial "participation" relied upon in former state and federal cases.

This Note has also attempted to establish some limitations …

Diminished Capacity-Recent Decisions And An Analytical Approach, Robert P. Bryant, Corbin B. Hume

Vanderbilt Law Review

The concept of diminished capacity allows a defendant in a criminal case to prove, usually by presenting psychiatrists who testify that he suffered from an abnormal mental condition, that he was unable to entertain the particular mens rea required for conviction.' Although courts historically have been reluctant to admit such testimony, in recent years a growing number of jurisdictions have recognized the concept of diminished capacity. Recent decisions in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina, as well as recently adopted statutes in ten other jurisdictions,illustrate the evidentiary, social, and constitutional issues raised by the concept of diminished capacity. …

Book Reviews, Frank J. Remington, George B. Tindall

Vanderbilt Law Review

Fair and Certain Punishment

Review by Frank J. Remington

Punishing Criminals. By Ernest van den Haag. New York: BasicBooks, Inc., 1975. Thinking About Crime. By James Q. Wilson. New York: BasicBooks, Inc., 1975.

Times change. So also do opinions about important social problems such as crime and government's response to crime. The books of both van den Haag and Wilson reflect changing opinions on crime and on what to do about crime. Both urge that we abandon the view that social conditions are an important cause of crime and that an improvement in social conditions will reduce crime substantially.Both urge …

Book Review, Henry P. Coppolillo

Vanderbilt Law Review

We often are startled when someone presents us with a new awareness of the significance of issues or phenomena at which we have been looking for years but have never really seen. Freda Adler will startle a number of people who read her book Sisters in Crime. She will also anger them. The only thing her book will not do is leave people unmoved. Sisters in Crime provides punch, provocation, revelation, promise, and explanation, as the author uses the central theme of the change in the rate and nature of crimes committed by women to explore women's roles and fortunes …

The Role Of The Victim In The Prosecution And Disposition Of A Criminal Case, Donald J. Hall

Vanderbilt Law Review

A theoretical underpinning of the American system of criminal justice is the notion that a criminal misdeed is a wrong against the entire society.' Accordingly, the local, state and federal governments, acting as the representatives of society, assume the duty and responsibility of prosecuting the individual wrongdoer. While the individual victim of a crime obviously is the party directly" wronged," society interjects and institutes the formal proceeding to ascertain criminal responsibility and determine the appropriate sanction to be imposed upon the accused. This constitutes a basic distinction between civil and criminal cases; the aggrieved individual is the named litigant in …

Recent Cases, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust Law--Robinson-Patman Act--To Satisfy the "In Commerce" Requirement of Section 2(a) at Least One of the Allegedly Discriminatory Sales in a Secondary-Line Case Must Cross a State Line

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Exclusion of Pregnancy-Related Disabilities from State Salary Compensation Insurance Program Denies Equal Protection to Pregnant Employees

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Criminal Procedure--Grand Juries--Exclusionary Rule in Search and Seizure Cases Does Not Apply to Grand Jury Proceedings

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Securities Regulation-Rule 10b-5--Plaintiffs Who Are Neither Purchasers nor Sellers of Securities May Recover Under Rule 10b-5 if Injured in Their Capacity as Investors as a Direct Consequence of Fraud in Connection with a Securities Transaction …

Recent Cases, Vanderbilt Law Review

Vanderbilt Law Review

Civil Rights--Private Education-Racially Discriminatory Admissions Policies Violate Right to Contract Provision of 42 U.S.C. § 1981

Plaintiffs, ' blacks who had been denied admission solely on the basis of their race to two all-white private schools that received no state aid,' sought damages and injunctive relief in federal district court contending that these rejections violated section 1981 of 42 U.S.C. by denying them the same right to contract as enjoyed by white citizens.

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Copyright--Telecommunications--CATV Importation of Distant Television Signals Constitutes Infringement Under Sections One (c) & (d) of the Copyright Act

Plaintiffs,' creators and producers of television programs,brought a …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Criminal Law-Confessions-- Government Can Satisfy Its Burden of Proving Waiver of Miranda Rights By Showing Warnings Given, Signed Waiver, and Proof of Defendant's Capacity to Understand the Warnings

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Criminal Procedure--Grand Jury-Attorney Work Product Consisting of Written Summaries and Personal Recollections of Interviews Is Privileged Against Disclosure at Federal Grand Jury Investigations

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Public Employees --Freedom of Association-Discharge of Non-policy-making Public Employees on Ground of Political Affiliation Infringes Employees' Freedom of Association

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Torts--Wrongful Death-Common--Law Cause of Action for Wrongful Death Exists Under Massachusetts Law

A Comparative Description Of The New York And California Criminal Justice Systems: Arrest Through Arraignment, Floyd F. Feeney, James R. Woods

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to outline by comparative description the arrest and related court processes for handling criminal defendants in New York City and Oakland, California. Hopefully the description will shed light on problem areas shared by both systems and will suggest ways of alleviating these problems. This article discusses the period from arrest through the first judicial appearance in each system. A later study, not yet completed, will detail the sequence between the first judicial appearance and the beginning of trial. For the purposes of convenience and because the term is widely used both in California and …

Recent Developments, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The institution of criminal charges against critical or disfavored legislators by the King of England was the prime factor prompting the long struggle for parliamentary privilege and, in the context of the American system of separation of powers, is the predominant thrust of the speech or debate clause. If the privilege of legislative immunity is to perform its traditional function of permitting legislators to carry out their legislative functions without fear of prosecution or harrassment from the executive and judicial branches, it should be applied broadly to effectuate its intended purpose of preserving the independence of the legislature and public …

The Constitutional Dilemma Of A Person Predisposed To Criminal Behavior, John A. Chandler, Stanley F. Rose

Vanderbilt Law Review

The basic premise of American criminal jurisprudence is that individuals are capable of controlling their behavior.' The threat of incarceration is intended to be a deterrent to antisocial conduct. State and federal penal systems are called "correctional institutions"--implying that a person is incarcerated in order to modify unacceptable behavior. Criminal laws are drafted with goals of discouraging antisocial conduct,punishing and reforming the guilty, and protecting society against dangerous individuals. The first two purposes are served only if a person can respond to negative reinforcement by conducting himself in socially acceptable ways. Individuals incapable of controlling antisocial behavior are not accounted …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Topics Discussed in Recent Cases:

Administrative Law--Freedom of Information Act--Unclassified Documents Physically Connected with Classified Documents May Not Be Withheld Under the National Security and Foreign Affairs Secrets Exemption

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Antitrust--Treble Damage Class Actions--Privity with Defendant Required To Maintain Suit

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection-State Probate Code Discriminating in Favor of Males Violates Equal Protection Clause

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Constitutional Law--Federal Preemption--Atomic Energy Act Requires Exclusive Federal Regulation of Radioactive Discharges from Nuclear Power Plants

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Corporations -Shareholder Suits -Shareholder May Inspect Corporate Records Only for Proper Purpose Ger-mane to his Economic Interest As Shareholder, Not Merely To Further his Own Social and …

Omnibus Crime Control And Safe Streets Act Of 1968-Grand Jury Witness Standing To Suppress Illegally Obtained Evidence, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 19681 attempts to regulate the use of electronic surveillance and wiretap within fourth amendment guidelines developed by the judiciary. If evidence has been obtained in violation of the Act, the Act prohibits its introduction into judicial, legislative, and administrative proceedings. As recent courts of appeals cases indicate, however, one primary question has arisen concerning the operation of this exclusionary rule in the specific context of a grand jury proceeding: May a grand jury witness challenge the admissibility of evidence obtained in violation of the Crime Control Act?

Criminal Law And Population Control, Kent Greenawalt

Vanderbilt Law Review

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.

Probable Cause To Arrest, Joseph G. Cook

Vanderbilt Law Review

Probable cause to arrest is an exceedingly difficult concept to objectify.' The traditional definition was stated in Beck v. Ohio as follows: [W]hether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense. Judicial opinions frequently manifest empathy with the policeman's plight in attempting to apply this vague standard. While the standard does not mean that the arresting officer must have evidence that would satisfy a fact finder of guilt beyond a reasonable …

Book Reviews, Maurice H. Merrill, Tom C. Clark, Anthony Platt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry

By Kenneth Culp Davis Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1969. Pp. xii,233. $8.50

reviewer: Maurice H. Merrill

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Gambling and Organized Crime

By Rufus King Washington:Public Affairs Press, 1969. Pp. viii, 239. $6.00

reviewer: Tom C. Clark

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The Throwaway Children

By Lisa Aversa Richette New York:J.B. Lippincott, 1969. Pp. x, 342. $6.95

reviewer: Anthony Platt

Book Reviews, Stanley D. Rose, Robert M. Anderson, Robert J. Harris, Harry Holloway, Robert L. Birmingham

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cardozo and Frontiers of Legal Thinking By Beryl Harold Levy Cleveland: The Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1969.Pp. xi, 365. $9.95.

reviewer: Stanley D. Rose

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City Politics and Planning By Francine F. Rabinovitz New York: Atherton Press, Inc. 1969. Pp. 192. $6.95

reviewer: Robert M. Anderson

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Everyman's Constitution: Historical Essays on the Fourteenth Amendment, the "Conspiracy Theory," and American Constitutionalism By Howard Jay Graham Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1968. Pp. xiv, 631. $12.95

reviewer: Robert J. Harris

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The Impact of Negro Voting: The Role of the Vote in the Quest for Equality By William …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Bar Admissions-The Character Investigation as an Unconstitutional Scheme to Promote Conformity: Comment on "LSCRRC v. Wadmond"

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Civil Rights--Desegregation--HEW is Required to Make a Program-by-Program Finding of Discrimination in Order to Terminate Federal Funds Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Constitutional Law--Civil Rights-Section 1985(3) Does Not Reach Private Conspiracies

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Constitutional Law--Criminal Procedure--Sixth Amendment Does Not Require Right to Counsel for In-Custody Suspects at Photographic Identifications

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--States May Not Require More Than a Simple Majority to Authorize Local Bond Issues and Tax Levies Through Popular Election

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Constitutional Law--Reapportionment--Multi-Member Districts Which Minimize …

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Identification & Police Line-ups By William E. Ringle New York: Gould Publications, 1968. Pp. x, 211. $5.00 (Paper)

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Metropolitan Decision Processes: An Analysis of Case Studies By Morris Davis & Marvin G. Weinbaum. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1969. Pp. xx; 131.

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The Impact of Supreme Court Decisions Edited by Theodore L. Becker. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. Pp. 213. $2.50 (Paper).

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The Limits of the Criminal Sanction By Herbert L. Packer.Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968. Pp. xi, 385. $8.95.

Statutory Presumptions And The Federal Criminal Law: A Suggested Analysis, Gerald H. Abrams

Vanderbilt Law Review

The criminal laws and the institutions charged with the administration of those laws are now the subjects of extensive study. The federal government' and various states are in the process of revising their criminal codes. The purpose of this article is to discuss what kind of presumptions should be enacted by a legislative body." The term presumption has been used in several ways. I use the word (hereinafter in italics) as a collective term to embrace situations in which a legislative body declares that proof of certain facts (the basic fact) has an effect in establishing other facts (the presumed …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Criminal Law--Habeas Corpus-State Prison Regulation Prohibiting Prisoner from Preparing Petition for Fellow Inmates Held Invalid in Absence of Alternative Means of Assistance

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Securities Regulation--Corporation as a Director for the Purposes of Section 16(b) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act

The Beginning Of Juvenile Justice, Police Practices, And The Juvenile Offender, Elyce Z. Ferster, Thomas F. Courtless

Vanderbilt Law Review

The public is being asked to make many important decisions which will affect the structure, jurisdiction and function of the juvenile justice system. Before making these decisions, it should have more facts about the present system and the proposed changes. The aim of this study, is to provide some of the needed information. This article, the first publication of the study, concerns the juvenile offender's initial contacts with the juvenile system, his relations with the police and the consequences of these relations. Thus far, this stage of the juvenile justice system has received far less attention than any other aspect …

Appellate Review Of Legal But Excessive Sentences: A Comparative Study, Gerhard O.W. Mueller, Fre Le Poole

Vanderbilt Law Review

Classical penology was conceived in France in the eighteenth century, and then eclipsed all over the world in the nineteenth, when Lombroso conjured up the picture of the born criminal. It was finally laid to rest in the United States in the twentieth century. Its basic tenet had been simple enough: the legislature in its infinite wisdom would seek and find the appropriate punishment for every crime.This can be accomplished if a crime is defined narrowly enough, perhaps by the creation of subcategories of that crime, so as to encompass all potential perpetrators who will each incur the same amount …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflict of Laws--Significant Interest Doctrine Extended to Marital Property Litigation

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Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure--Fourth Amendment Restrictions Apply to Electronic Eavesdropping When Conversations Are Private--Physical Trespass Test Discarded

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Constitutional Law-Section 5(a) (1) (D) Prohibiting Members of Communist-Action Organizations from Employment in Defense Facilities Held Unconstitutional Infringement Upon Freedom of Association

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Criminal Law--Evidence-Unauthorized Juror View Violates Sixth Amendment Right to Confrontation

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Domestic Relations--Intentional False Representation of Pregnancy Grounds for Annulment

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Income Tax--Corporations--Attorneys' and Accountants' Fees Incurred in Sale of Assets Pursuant to a Section 337 Liquidation Are Not Deductible

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Interest--Usury--Charging Debtor with Statutory Maximum Loan Fees …

Abortion Legislation: The Need For Reform, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Widespread national publicity and recent state legislative activity have focused a significant degree of national concern on a serious problem of public health and morals--the question of abortion.Surveys indicate that between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 abortions take place annually--or, one abortion for every four to five pregnancies. The so-called "back-street abortionists," whether amateur or professional, each year cause the death of 5,000 to 10,000 women who are forced to seek their services. Because of the highly controversial nature of abortion, statutes attempting to deal with the problem stubbornly resist amendment despite widespread disregard of their provisions. Many hospitals permit abortions under …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust--Labor Law-Exemption of Union from Antitrust Laws Is Lost When It Imposes Minimum Price Levels on a Member-Employer Acting on their own initiative, the plaintiffs, union member'

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Civil Rights--Desegregation--School Authorities Have Afirmative Duty To Integrate School System Negro children in six Louisiana and three Alabama school systems

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Constitutional Law--Citizenship--Stripping Congress of Its Right To Expatriate

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Constitutional Law--State Constitutional Amendment Guaranteeing Discretion to Seller of Real Estate Violates Fourteenth Amendment

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Criminal Law--The "Mere Evidence" Rule Is Expressly Abolished

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antitrust, civil rights, constitutional law, criminal law

Bail Reform In The State And Federal Systems, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The origin of the institution of bail is not entirely known, but it is believed to have originated in medieval England as a device to free untried prisoners. The definitive structure of the process seems to have been first codified in 1275 in the Statute of Westminster. The institution developed gradually and eventually became so well established that the English Bill of Rights of 1688 provided that "excessive bail ought not to be required."' The factors contributing to the development of the institution of bail were primarily matters of practical importance. Disease-ridden jails, delayed trials by traveling justices, and insecure …