Criminal Law Commons^™

The Adam Walsh Act And The Failed Promise Of Administrative Federalism, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

For advocates of federalism, these are uncertain times. With hope of meaningful judicial federalism having largely receded, and Congress persisting in its penchant for intrusions on state authority, of late several scholars have championed the capacity of executive agencies to enforce and preserve federalism interests. This paper tests this position, providing the first empirically based critical analysis of administrative federalism, focusing on the recently enacted Adam Walsh Act, intended by Congress to redesign states’ sex offender registration and community notification laws. The paper casts significant doubt on the accepted empirical assumptions of administrative federalism, adding to the limited evidence amassed …

Litigating The Ghost Of Gideon In Florida: Separation Of Powers As A Tool To Achieve Indigent Defense Reform, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This paper, part of a symposium addressing indigent defense-related issues, examines litigation challenging a Florida law that expressly prohibits courts from granting public defender motions to withdraw on the basis of an alleged conflict of interest caused by excessive caseload or underfunding.

Summary Of Bahena V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 126 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 57, Michael Gianelloni

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

The "Green" Effect On White Collar Sentencing: An Analysis Of The Impact Of The Economy On Imprisonment Lengths Of Sentences For Federal White Collar Defendants, Jessica P. Morgan

Mercer Law Review

On June 29, 2009, Bernard L. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his creation and perpetration of an unprecedented, worldwide "Ponzi" scheme, which caused an ultimate loss to thousands of investors totaling upwards of $65 billion. Although Madoff's Ponzi scheme caused more investor losses than any one similar scheme in American history, many were shocked by the severity of Madoff's sentence. As a man in his seventies, a sentence of 150 years incarceration is well beyond a life sentence and serves as a symbol to deter those who would engage in similar conduct in the future. ... …

Gideon'S Ghost: Providing The Sixth Amendment Right To Counsel In Times Of Budgetary Crisis, Heather P. Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses how the budget crisis, caused by the recent economic downturn, has created a constitutional crisis with regard to the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel. The landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright required states, under the Sixth Amendment, to provide free counsel to indigent criminal defendants. However, as a result of the current financial crisis, many of those who represent the indigent have found their funding cut dramatically. Consequently, Gideon survives, if at all, only as a ghostly shadow prowling the halls of criminal justice throughout the country.

This Article analyzes specific budget cuts from various states and …

Rationality, Pirates, And The Law: A Retrospective, Peter T. Leeson

American University Law Review

In the late 1720s Caribbean piracy was brought to a screeching halt. An enhanced British naval presence was partly responsible for this. But most important in bringing pirates to their end was a series of early 18th-century legal changes that made it possible to effectively prosecute them. This short paper’s purpose is to recount those legal changes and document their effectiveness. Its other purpose is to analyze pirates’ response to the legal changes designed to exterminate them, which succeeded, at least partly, in frustrating the government’s goal. By providing a retrospective look at anti-piracy law and pirates’ reactions to that …

"Sexting" To Minors In A Rapidly Evolving Digital Age: Frix V. State Establishes The Applicability Of Georgia's Obscenity Statutes To Text Messages, Hayley S. Strong

Mercer Law Review

The capabilities of modern cell phones are advancing at an unprecedented rate, and with these advancements, cell phones now resemble personal computers in numerous ways. Messages, pictures, and videos, which were once transmittable only by computer, can now be sent from one cell phone to another or from a computer to a cell phone and vice versa. While the differences between these two electronic devices may seem increasingly trivial to the average electronics user, these differences are pivotal for the criminal defendant who has used a cell phone to send a sexually explicit text message to a minor. The disparity …

Jamming The Revolving Door: Legislative Setbacks For Mental Health Court Systems In Virginia, Sheila Moheb

Law Student Publications

Part II of this comment will discuss the existing issues that effectuate the tension between the criminal justice system and mentally ill offenders, which provides important context to the debate surrounding the establishment of MHCs. Part III will examine the recent federal support for alternative approaches to handling mentally ill offenders and the different operational tactics implemented by existing MHC programs. Finally, Part IV will study the launch of Virginia’s first MHC in Norfolk, while exploring the latest legislative defeat in Virginia, Senate Bill 158 of the 2010 General Assembly, which sought to establish MHCs statewide.

Summary Of Ramirez V. State, 126 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 22, Anthony R. Sassi

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction in the Second Judicial District Court, pursuant to a jury verdict of second-degree felony murder by means of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment.

Criminal Law - Evidence Of Inactive Drug Metabolites In Dui Cases: Using A Proximate Cause Analysis To Fill The Evidentiary Gap Between Prior Drug Use And Driving Under The Influence, Matthew C. Rappold

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Probabilities In Probable Cause And Beyond: Statistical Versus Concrete Harms, Sherry F. Colb

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Challenges For Asian Jurisdictions In The Development Of International Criminal Justice, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The paper reviews the different frameworks for international criminal justice in which China’s influence can be measured, or should be present, looking specifically at procedural traditions on which international criminal law and its jurisprudence are said to be based. Understanding China as a transitional hybrid criminal justice model undergoing radical transformation in its justice delivery and discourse, it is argued, assists significantly in forecasting where the synthesis of international criminal procedure may be heading. Attached to a re-interpretation and critique of individualised liability is the unpacking of China’s in principle commitment to communitarian rights and social protection as a foundation …

Long-Overdue Reform Of D.C.'S Antediluvian Developmental Disabilities Law: From Forest Haven To The 21st Century, Robert L. Burgdorf Jr.

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Stupidest Lawyering Ever, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

Last Wednesday and Thursday, June 23 and 24, Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis finally got what he has been seeking for over a decade -- a court hearing allowing him to present newly discovered evidence he is innocent of the murder of off-duty policeman Mark MacPhail. That hearing was a disaster, however, because of the cataclysmic blundering of his own attorneys. As he sat in the federal district courtroom in jail garb and leg irons watching events unfold, Davis must surely have come to the sickening realization that his lawyers were guilty of some of the stupidest lawyering on …

Tribe V. Marceau, 2010-Ap-05 (Blkft. Tr. Ct. App., Jun. 15, 2010), Blackfeet Appellate Court

Court Decisions

In a brief order, the Blackfeet Tribal Court of Appeals held that the Tribe could not appeal the trial court judge’s verdict of not guilty due to lack of evidence. The Court cited to Chapter 11 Sec. 11-A of the Blackfeet Tribal Law and Order Code, which limits the circumstances in which the Tribe can appeal in a criminal case. Sec. 11-B, which outlines the circumstances when the Tribe can appeal in a criminal case, does not provide that the Tribe can appeal a not guilty verdict.

Tribe V. Pepion, 2010-J-308 (Blkft. Tr. Ct. App., Jun. 15, 2010), Blackfeet Appellate Court

Court Decisions

In the Blackfeet Tribal Court of Appeals, the Court found that the Tribe had repeatedly violated the rights of Pepion, a minor, and had not followed the Blackfeet Family Code. The Court voided any outstanding probation obligations of Pepion.

Substantially Justified? The U.S. Government’S Use Of Name-Check Technologies In Naturalization Procedures, H. Jin Cho

Duke Law & Technology Review

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services relies upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation to administer the National Name Check Program, which conducts background checks on applicants for naturalization. Backlogs have led to long delays for aspiring citizens and significant legal problems for the government.

This iBrief examines the First Circuit’s ruling in Aronov v. Napolitano that an eighteen-month delay in adjudicating a naturalization application was substantially justified. While the government’s inefficiency can be explained partly by an understaffed bureaucracy, overwhelming evidence suggests that these problems are exacerbated by a technological infrastructure that is ill-equipped to handle the scope of the …

Cohen V. Minister Of Defense, Dorit Beinisch, Miriam Naor, Uzi Vogelman

Translated Opinions

Petitions seeking remedies concerning the release of foreign arrestees who took part in a flotilla from Turkey to the Gaza Strip were rejected. Following the notice of the Attorney General regarding the release of the foreign arrestees, part of these petitions have become unnecessary, whereas regarding the petitions challenging the decision of the Attorney General, it a decision within the discretion of the Attorney General and there is no reason for intervention. The High Court of Justice (in an opinion written by Justice D. Beinisch) rejected the Petitions for the following reasons:

Following the decision of the Attorney General, the …

Human Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation At World Sporting Events, Victoria Hayes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Many members of the international community fear that world sporting events, such as the Olympics and the World Cup, create surges in human trafficking for sexual exploitation, causing women and girls to be exploited for commercial sex while the rest of the world celebrates athleticism and sport. These fears have sparked heated debate about the measures hosting countries should take to prevent human trafficking at these events and the role prostitution policies play in combating human trafficking. In the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics in Canada and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, politicians in both countries proposed legalizing …

Foreword, José Luis Jesus

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Emotionally Charged: The Prosecutorial Charging Decision And The Innocence Revolution, Daniel S. Medwed

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Resurrecting Autonomy: The Criminal Defendant's Right To Control The Case, Erica J. Hashimoto

Scholarly Works

In Faretta v. California, the Supreme Court exalted the value of autonomy – the criminal defendant’s interest in presenting and controlling the defense. Over the course of the past thirty-five years, however, the Court’s enthusiasm has dissipated, and commentators have criticized courts that have given defendants any measure of control over their cases. As a result, lower courts increasingly have shifted control from defendants to their lawyers. In light of that retrenchment, this Article reevaluates the autonomy interest on its merits. This reexamination confirms that Faretta got it right, and the Supreme Court should revitalize the constitutional interest of criminal …

Aba Criminal Justice Standards On The Treatment Of Prisoners, Margo Schlanger, Margaret C. Love, Carl Reynolds

Articles

or more than i O years, corrections professionals and others concerned about the treatment of prisoners have despaired over conditions in California's prisons. Crowding, violence, racial segregation, abysmal medical care, an obstructionist corrections union. and a state budget crisis have combined to bring the system to the point of constitutional meltdov,n. In 2008. a state appellate court found conditions of "'extreme peril to the safety of persons and property,'' and a three-judge federal court confirmed the existence of a "substantial risk to the health and safety of the men and women who work inside these prisons and the inmates housed …

Talking About Prosecutors, Alafair S. Burke

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Perspectives On Brady And Other Disclosure Obligations: Report Of The Working Groups On Best Practices

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can An Ethical Person Be An Ethical Prosecutor? A Social Cognitive Approach To Systemic Reform, Lawton P. Cummings

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Training Prosecutors About Their Disclosure Obligations: Can Prosecutors' Offices Learn From Their Lawyers' Mistakes?, Bruce A. Green

Cardozo Law Review

Prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, judges, and legal academics from around the country recently met at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York to discuss prosecutors' compliance with their disclosure obligations. The overarching question was how prosecutors' offices could do a better job. To assist representatives of the legal profession in approaching this question from new directions, the Symposium organizers invited speakers from outside the legal profession to talk about the causes of error and methods used to reduce error in other contexts. One of the themes was that, outside the practice of law, individuals and institutions learn …

Organizational Guidelines For The Prosecutor's Office, Rachel E. Barkow

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transitioning To Free Speech: A Case Study On Legal Transfers In Jordanian Jurisprudence, Sarah Joy Gregory

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Italian Job — Voice Over Internet Protocol Mtic Fraud In Italy, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On February 8, 2010 a speculative paper on the likelihood that fraudsters proficient in missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud might move into voice over internet protocol (VoIP) was submitted to the Boston University School of Law Working Paper Series.

Prior to that paper there was very little (if any) public discussion of VoIP MTIC. There were no assessments, no arrests, and not a hint of litigation. Fifteen days later, and before final publication the financial press exploded with coverage of a massive VoIP MTIC fraud (the Operazione “phuncards-broker” investigation). The Wall Street Journal reported: An [Italian] judge…ordered the arrest of …