Criminal Law Commons^™

Reclaiming The Equitable Heritage Of Habeas, Erica J. Hashimoto

Scholarly Works

Equity runs through the law of habeas corpus. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, prisoners in England sought the Great Writ primarily from a common law court — the Court of King’s Bench — but that court’s exercise of power to issue the writ was built around equitable principles. Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that modern-day habeas law draws deeply on traditional equitable considerations. Criticism of current habeas doctrine centers on the risk that its rules — and particularly the five gatekeeping doctrines that preclude consideration of claims — produce unfair results. But in fact four of these …

Shirking, Opportunism, Self-Delusion And More: The Agency Problem Today, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Domestic Violence Victims, Defendants, And Due Process, Jessica Miles

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Section 6: Criminal Law, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Taking Voluntariness Seriously, Ian Farrell, Justin Marceau

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Courts and commentators commonly claim that criminal law contains a voluntary act requirement. Despite the ubiquity of this assertion, there is remarkably little agreement on what the voluntary act requirement entails. This lack of uniformity is particularly problematic because, for some crimes, whether a defendant is guilty or innocent will turn on which conception of voluntariness is applied. In this Article, we critique the various conceptions of the voluntary act requirement, and propose an alternative set of principles for applying the notion that person is only criminally culpable for crimes committed voluntarily. First, culpability requires that the actus reus as …

The One Or The Many, Jens David Ohlin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The following Review Essay, inspired by Tracy Isaacs’ new book, Moral Responsibility in Collective Contexts, connects the philosophical literature on group agency with recent trends in international criminal law. Part I of the Essay sketches out the relevant philosophical positions, including collectivist and individualist accounts of group agency. Particular attention is paid to Kornhauser and Sager’s development of the doctrinal paradox, Philip Pettit’s deployment of the paradox towards a general argument for group rationality, and Michael Bratman’s account of shared or joint intentions. Part II then analyzes, with cautious support, Isaacs’ two-level solution, which entails both individual and collective …

Identifying And Depicting Culture In Intimate Partner Violence Cases, Remla Parthasarathy

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Conspiracy Of Silence: Honour-Based Violence In North America, Aruna Papp

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

The Reliability And Admissibility Of Fingerprint And Bitemark Analyses, David Chandler

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Federal And State Medical Marijuana Policies: A Threat To Cooperative Federalism, Todd Grabarsky

West Virginia Law Review

The legal status of medical marijuana in the United States is something of a paradox. On one hand, the federal government has placed a ban on the drug with no exceptions. On the other hand, forty percent of states have legal- ized its cultivation, distribution, and consumption for medical purposes. As such, medical marijuana activity is at the same time proscribed (by the federal government) and encouraged (by state governments through their systems of regulation and taxation). This Article seeks to shed light on this unprecedented, nebulous zone of legality in which an activity is both legal and illegal, what …

Are Cryptocurrencies Super Tax Havens?, Omri Marian

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Virtual currencies are online payment systems that may function as real currencies but are not issued or backed by central governments. As demonstrated by recent events, virtual currencies present regulators with significant challenges. On May 23, 2013, the U.S. federal government brought an indictment against the operators of Liberty Reserve, a popular virtual currency, charging the operators with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The same month, the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") made public a report exploring the potential tax-compliance risks associated with virtual currencies and economies. Legislators have also taken particular interest in one type of virtual …

Retroactivity And Crack Sentencing Reform, Harold J. Krent

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the strong presumption against retroactive application of reduced punishments articulated in the Supreme Court’s recent decision, Dorsey v. United States, is neither historically grounded nor constitutionally compelled. Although not dispositive in Dorsey, the presumption may mislead legislatures in future contexts, whether addressing marijuana decriminalization or lessened punishment for file sharing, and in no way should signal to Congress that future changes should apply prospectively only. Although the Court reached the right result in applying the reduction in punishment for crack offenses to offenders whose sentences had not been finalized, the Court relied excessively on the general …

Canines (And Cats!) In Correctional Institutions: Legal And Ethical Issues Relating To Companion Animal Programs, Rebecca J. Huss

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Is Brown The New Black?: American Muslims, Inherent Propensity For Violence, And America’S Racial History, Amara S. Chaudhry-Kravitz

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Justified Obligation: Counsel’S Duty To File A Requested Appeal In A Post-Waiver Situation, Lauren Gregorcyk

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Control-Theory, Jens David Ohlin, Elies Van Sliedregt, Thomas Weigend

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As the first cases before the ICC proceed to the Appeals Chamber, the judges ought to critically evaluate the merits and demerits of the control-theory of perpetratorship and its related doctrines. The request for a possible re-characterization of the form of responsibility in the case of Katanga and the recent acquittal of Ngudjolo can be taken as indications that the control-theory, is problematic as a theory of liability. The authors, in a spirit of constructive criticism, invite the ICC Appeals Chamber to take this unique opportunity to reconsider or improve the control-theory as developed by the Pre-Trial Chambers in the …

Pardons And The Theory Of The 'Second Best', Chad Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper explains and defends a “second-best” theory of pardons. Pardons are “second-best” in two ways. First, pardons are second-best because they represent, in part, a failure of justice: the person convicted was not actually guilty, or he or she was punished too harshly, or the punishment no longer fits the crime. In the familiar analogy, pardons act as a “safety valve” on a criminal justice system that doesn’t work as, ideally, it should. Pardons, in the non-ideal world we live in, are sometimes necessary.

But pardons are also “second-best” in another way, because they can represent deviations from certain …

Discovering The Right To Criminal Disclosure: Lessons From Civil Procedure, Denise Huiwen Wong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 1985 Rev Ed) and subsequent case law developments have created a patchwork of rules governing the disclosure obligations of parties in criminal cases. This article argues that parties have thereby been endowed with a right that is exercisable in the courts to access the material to which the law says they are entitled. However, there are currently no proper procedural mechanisms in place for parties to make interlocutory applications to obtain such material. This article examines the competing values and ideals of a criminal discovery regime, and suggests that concepts such …

The Dog Days Of Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence, Kit Kinports

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Teaching 'The Wire': Fiction As Pedagogical Tool, Roger Fairfax

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Summary Of State V. Greene, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 58, Brittnie Watkins

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered an appeal from a district court order granting respondent’s post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Legal Services Assessment For Trafficked Children- Cook County, Illinois Case Study, Katherine Kaufka Walts Jd, Linda Rio Reichmann Jd, Catherine Lee Ma

Center for the Human Rights of Children

Child trafficking is one of the most disturbing human rights abuses of our time, involving cases of boys and girls exploited for labor and/or commercial sexual services. These children may suffer physical, sexual, and emotional violence at the hands of traffickers, who can be pimps, employers, and even family members. Trafficking schemes may involve various forms of force, fraud, and coercion, which can be physical and/or psychological in nature. Current research indicates that legal services are a critical component of a comprehensive service delivery model for victims of human trafficking and a realization of human rights. However, little to no …

Banished For Life: Deportation Of Juvenile Offenders As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Beth Caldwell

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adjudicating Sex Crimes As Mental Disease, Melissa Hamilton

Pace Law Review

The psychiatric diseases of the paraphilias are now entrenched in the law in decisions concerning culpability, desert, and risk. Though, as the foregoing cases suggest, it is a tough balancing act, considering the existence of psychiatric illness suggests less responsibility, while at the same time implying a greater risk of future dangerousness. To better navigate this conundrum, the law has drawn on the psychiatric sciences. Part II of this Article outlines a basic need for law and science to serve each other even though they may not share objectives. With respect to the advent of new laws to control sex …

Summary Of State V. Robles-Nieves, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 55, Sean Africk

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered the appropriate factors for evaluating a motion for the stay of a criminal proceeding pending the resolution of an interlocutory appeal from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence.

Summary Of Brass V. State, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. 53, Katelyn J. Cantu

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered whether an attorney may file a substantive motion on a deceased client's behalf in a criminal case when a personal representative has not been substituted as a party to the appeal.

Summary Of Armenta-Carpio V. State, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 54, Drew Wheaton

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered whether a concession-of-guilt strategy is equivalent to a guilty plea, thus requiring the district court to canvass a defendant to determine whether he knowingly and voluntarily consented to the concession of guilt.

Summary Of Clay V. Eighth Judicial District Court, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. 48, Katelyn Franklin

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging an order from the district court denying a pretrial petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The question before the Court was whether a district attorney violates NRS 172.095(2) when he or she seeks an indictment for child abuse or neglect under NRS 200.508(1),2 based on nonaccidental physical injury, but fails to inform the grand jurors of the definition of “physical injury.”

Summary Of State V. Beckman, 129 Nev. Adv. Op. 51, Daniel Nubel

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order granting a motion to suppress evidence. The Court clarified the government’s ability to subject citizens to drug sniffing dogs in the absence of reasonable suspicion.

Survey Of Washington Search And Seizure Law: 2013 Update, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Debra L. Stephens

Seattle University Law Review

This survey is intended to serve as a resource to which Washington lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, and others can turn as an authoritative starting point for researching Washington search and seizure law. In order to be useful as a research tool, this Survey requires periodic updates to address new cases interpreting the Washington constitution and the U.S. Constitution and to reflect the current state of the law. Many of these cases involve the Washington State Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Washington constitution. Also, as the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to examine Fourth Amendment search and seizure jurisprudence, its …