Criminal Law Commons^™

Declining Homicide In New York City: A Tale Of Two Trends, Jeffery Fagan, Franklin E. Zimring, June Kim

Faculty Scholarship

The mass media pay plenty of attention to crime and violence in the United States, but very few of the big stories on the American crime beat can be classified as good news. The driveby shootings and carjackings that illuminate nightly news broadcasts are the opposite of good tidings. Most efforts at prevention and law enforcement seem more like reactive attempts to contain ever expanding problems rather than discernable public triumphs. In recent American history, crime rates seem to increase on the front page and moderate in obscurity.

The recent decline in homicides in New York City is an exception …

Deciding The Stop And Frisk Cases: A Look Inside The Supreme Court's Conference, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

In our system of constitutional decision-making, the Supreme Court makes law as an institution in its formal written opinions. The Court and its individual members make their official legal marks in the printed pages of the United States Reports. In June 1968, in Terry v. Ohio and Sibron v. New York, the two decisions that approved the constitutionality under the Fourth Amendment of police stop and frisk practices, the Court filled many official pages with rich discussion. Over the ensuing thirty years, these Court and individual opinions have shaped the course of constitutional analysis in our courts and guided the …

Women, The Law, And Cults: Three Avenues Of Legal Recourse: New Rape Laws, Violence Against Women Act, And Antistalking Laws, Robin A. Boyle

Faculty Publications

The author examines three avenues of legal recourse that are available to society at large, but may not be well-known to women in cults, their families, and their potential mental health providers. These avenues for recourse are improved rape laws now available in every state; recently-enacted federal legislation -- the 1994 Violence Against Women Act; and recently-enacted state and federal antistalking laws. The author developed this article from her speech delivered at the annual American Family Foundation conference on May 30, 1997, in Philadelphia, PA.

The Street Locations: Downtown Cleveland, October 31, 1963, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

This appendix to Deciding the Stop and Frisk Cases: A Look Inside the Supreme Court’s Conference, 72 St. John’s L. Rev. 749 (1998), consists of a map drawn by Jill Dinneen (SJU Law '99), based on Sanborn maps from the 1950s and 1960s, photographs and eyewitness descriptions of downtown Cleveland then and now; and a key to marked locations on the map.

State Of Ohio V. Richard D. Chilton And State Of Ohio V. John W. Terry: The Suppression Hearing And Trial Transcripts, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

This appendix to Deciding the Stop and Frisk Cases: A Look Inside the Supreme Court’s Conference, 72 St. John’s L. Rev. 749 (1998), includes Biographical Information on the Participants in the Case; and transcripts of the complete pretrial and trial proceedings in the 1964 criminal prosecutions of Richard Chilton and John Terry, arranged by Prof. Barrett to create the organization reflected in the Table of Contents at the beginning of the appendix. Footnotes were added to provide citations and, in a few instances, to clarify the text. Bracketed material was added to correct obvious slips of the tongue or the …

Secret Testimony And Public Trials In New York, Randolph N. Jonakait

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Substantial Assistance And Sentence Severity: Is There A Correlation Substantial Assistance, Ian Weinstein

Faculty Scholarship

How much more severe are sentences imposed in districts with low substantial assistance rates than those in which the rate is very high? In the aggregate, not at all. At first blush this may puzzle readers because substantial assistance (SA) departures are very unevenly distributed across districts and SA accounts for nearly two-thirds of all downward departures, almost 7,900 of the 12,000 in fiscal 1996. Although this pattern could result in gross disparities among districts, my analysis of inter-district sentencing patterns reveals no statistically significant correlation between the rate of SA departures and the average length of sentences imposed in …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

State V. Lovejoy: Hung Juries And Retrial Vs. Double Jeopardy And Collateral Estoppel, Nicole M. Ellis

Cleveland State Law Review

This article argues that the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in Lovejoy helps to preserve the purpose of our criminal laws, which is to protect society. The article starts by recapping the events leading up to trial, then it breaks down the court decisions on appeal. The analysis of these decisions arrives at the conclusion that allowing a defendant to be retried on charges in which the accused was not previously acquitted, but rather the jury was hung or there was a mistrial, does not frustrate justice but instead greatly increases the opportunities for justice. In addition, the accused is …

On Seeking Controlling Law And Re-Seeking Death Under Section 2929.06 Of The Ohio Revised Code , Margery B. Koosed

Cleveland State Law Review

This article explores and analyzes the two-pronged legal dilemma that confronted the court in State v. Marshall: in Ohio, finding the correct sentencing law is often difficult; and a recent amendment to the resentencing portion of that law, S.B. 258, destroys the efficiency that was characteristic of Ohio's previous resentencing framework. Consequently, Part II of this article examines the facts and holding of State v. Marshall and suggests that finding the applicable law must be simplified. Practitioner handbooks are often confusing and incomplete, in part as the Ohio legislature generates an ever-changing body of law. Justice and the lives of …

Where We Have Been, And Where We Might Be Going: Some Cautionary Reflections On Rape Law Reform, The Sixty-Eighth Cleveland-Marshall Fund Lecture , Joshua Dressler

Cleveland State Law Review

We should always be looking to see where we are, how we got there, and where we appear to be going. My purpose in this article has been to ask those questions in the context of rape law. In evaluating rape reform, I have tried to be fair-minded and balanced in my observations. I have suggested areas in which the law should go further to protect against sexual misconduct, but I have also expressed my belief that rape law reform threatens to move in undesirable directions. In particular, I have argued that there is a risk that courts will follow …

Genetic Technology And Its Impact On Culpability For Criminal Actions , Marcia Johnson

Cleveland State Law Review

This article addresses only one issue, one which our judicial system ultimately must address: the criminal responsibility one will bear for committing a crime when the actions are determined by the actor's genetic make-up. Part I of the article traces the roots of genetic research from Darwinism to eugenics and Nazi racial purity theories. Part II reviews theories and studies which support the concept of genetic influence on social, particularly criminal, behavior. Part III considers the impact of the genetic revolution on our criminal justice system with special emphasis on the effect on our system's fundamental concept of free will. …

Rape Shield Statutes And The Admissibility Of Evidence Tending To Show A Motive To Fabricate 1998 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence, Regan Kreitzer Latesta Clerk For United States Bankruptcy Court For The District Of Maryland

Cleveland State Law Review

Rape shield statutes were enacted in order to protect the rape victim from embarrassment and humiliation at the trial of the accused by restricting the admission of sexual conduct evidence. While these statutes, for the most part, succeed in protecting the victim and encouraging her to report the rape, they can have the effect of limiting the accused's ability to defend himself. Part II of this article discusses the advent of rape shield statutes in the United States. Part III examines case law construing the statutes with regard to prior sexual conduct as evidence of a motive to fabricate. Finally, …

Criminal Procedure—Crazy As I Need To Be: The United States Supreme Court's Latest Addition To The Incompetency Doctrine. Cooper V. Oklahoma, 116 S. Ct. 1373 (1996)., S. Christopher Thomason

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prosecutorial Misconduct In Closing Argument In Arkansas Criminal Trials, J. Thomas Sullivan

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mandatory Hiv Testing Of Professional Boxers: An Unconstitutional Effort To Regulate A Sport That Needs To Be Regulated, Michael T. Flannery, Raymond C. O'Brien

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Batson Ethics For Prosecutors And Trial Court Judges, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wielding The Double-Edge Sword: Charles Hamilton Houston And Judicial Activism In The Age Of Legal Realism, Roger Fairfax

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

A new progressive movement in the law profoundly affected the American judicial climate of the 1930s and 1940s. The jurisprudence of American Legal Realism, which sprang from the progressive American sociological jurisprudence, boasted the adherence of some of America's most influential legal minds. Legal Realism, which complemented the New Deal reform legislation emerging in the 1930s, advocated judicial deference to legislative and administrative channels on matters of social and economic policy. Judicial activism, which had been used as a tool for the protection of economic rights since the late nineteenth century, was seen as inimical to progressive social reform and, …

Submission Is Not The Answer: Lethal Violence, Microcultures Of Criminal Violence And The Right To Self-Defense, Robert J. Cottrol

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

An End To Silence: Women Prisoners’ Handbook On Identifying And Addressing Sexual Misconduct, 2nd Ed., Brenda V. Smith, Marcia Greenberger, Nancy Duff Campbell, Deborah Brake, Joanna Grossman, Kathie Donnelly, Laura Cutiletta, Christina Davis, Marelisa Fabrega, Kristin Flynn, Kristin Holman, Jessica Jackson, Heather Lamberg, Kimberly Harris, Shauna Helton, Alvin Stith, Aurie Hall, Jonathan Smith, Andie Moss, Theresa Hunt Katsel, Drs. Elaine Carmen, Shelley Neiderbach

Research Reports & White Papers

The National Women’s Law Center is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1972 to advance and protect women’s legal rights. The Center focuses on major policy areas of importance to women and their families including education, employment, reproductive rights, health, family support and income security, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women.

As a legal arm of the women’s movement, the Center has litigated ground-breaking cases and filed briefs in landmark Supreme Court decisions; advocated before state and federal policymakers to shape legislation and policies affecting women’s lives; and educated the public about issues important …

The Negative Effects Of Expert Testimony On The Battered Women's Syndrome, Pamela Posch

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Challenges Of Investigating Section 5k1.1 In Practice, Daniel Richman

Faculty Scholarship

From the very beginning, almost everyone familiar with the sentencing guidelines has recognized that substantial assistance motions pose a severe threat to the goal of horizontal equity in sentencing. The problem stems in part from the fact that any scheme using sentencing leniency to reward cooperation reduces the likelihood that two defendants of similar culpability and criminal history will receive the same sentence if one cooperates and the other doesn't. The damage, however, is potentially magnified by the particular system established by the federal guidelines: The absence of clear guidelines as to how cooperators should be treated makes it likely …

Federal Criminal Law, Congressional Delegation, And Enforcement Discretion, Daniel Richman

Faculty Scholarship

Much of the literature on federal criminal law bemoans the extent to which Congress has abdicated its legislative responsibilities and left enforcement decisions to prosecutorial discretion. Many critics have sought to compensate for the absence of appropriate legislative specificity by proposing other devices for limiting prosecutorial power, many of which would centralize enforcer authority. Guided by recent work in positive political theory, Professor Daniel Richman argues that such claims of legislative abdication overlook the attention that Congress has given to the organization and activities of the federal enforcement bureaucracy. By showing the extent to which Congress balances concern with enforcer …

Federal Criminal Conspiracy, Todd R. Russell, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

Under 18 U.S.C. § 371, it is a crime for "two or more persons [to] conspire . . . to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose."

This Article first outlines, in Section I, the basic elements of a conspiracy offense under § 371. Defenses available to challenge charges brought under the statute are discussed in Section III of the Article. Section IV presents the evidentiary and constitutional guidelines governing admissibility of co-conspirator hearsay testimony at trials involving conspiracy charges. Section V surveys …

Spain Returns To Trial By Jury, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

In 1995, the Spanish Parliament reenacted trial by jury in criminal cases by implementing a mandate of the 1978 post Franco Spanish Constitution. This article discusses the 17 year dispute, following the ratification of the democratic post-Franco Spanish Constitution, on whether Article 25 mandated the reintroduction of lay participation in the criminal trial, and, if so, whether in the form of the classic jury or a continental European style court with lay assessors. This article analyzes the Law on Trial by Jury and its implementation in the first year of trials, and references Spain’s experience with trial by jury in …

The Newly Found "Compassion" For Sexually Violent Predators: Civil Commitment And The Right To Treatment In The Wake Of Kansas V. Hendricks, Elizabeth Weeks

Scholarly Works

In light of heart-wrenching stories of sexual abuse and public demands for safety, the Kansas v. Hendricks case presented the Supreme Court with compelling facts on which to uphold the Kansas commitment strategy. After all, the statute prevented the release of a man whose history of sex crimes, incarceration, and institutionalization spanned nearly two decades, and who admitted he still had sexual desires for children but could not control his urges. Faced with that evidence, the Court would have been hard-pressed to strike down the Kansas statute by finding that such a predator received inadequate treatment for his disorder, or …

Restorative Justice – A Conceptual Framework, Jennifer Llewellyn, R. Howse

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Restorative justice has become a fashionable term both in Canadian and foreign legal and social policy discourse. Restorative justice is certainly not a new idea. In fact, it is foundational to our very ideas about law and conflict resolution. There is, nevertheless, a lack of clarity about the meaning of this term. Often it is used as a catchall phrase to refer to any practice which does not look like the mainstream practice of the administration of justice, particularly in the area of criminal justice. Little attention has been spent attempting to articulate what distinguishes a practice as restorative. Rather, …

Task Force Statement Of The Twentieth Century Fund's Task Force On Apprehending Indicted War Criminals: Meeting The Obligations Of Justice, Paul Williams

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Redirecting The Debate Over Trafficking In Women: Definitions, Paradigms, And Contexts, Janie Chuang

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Accomplice Liability For Unintentional Crimes: Remaining Within The Constraints Of Intent, Audrey Rogers

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article addresses the issue of the proper extent of a secondary actor's culpability for unintentional crimes committed by another. Part I reviews accomplice liability and its mens rea requirements generally. Part II discusses the history of the application of complicity theory to unintentional crimes. Part III examines whether accomplice liability for unintentional crimes is proper, and concludes that in keeping with complicity's doctrinal requirements, liability is appropriate only when the secondary actor has the intent to aid in the commission of the culpable act that results in unplanned harm. It evaluates whether the various categories of accomplice statutes sufficiently …