Criminal Law Commons^™

Harmelin's Faulty Originalism, Michael J. Zydney Mannheimer

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Impeachment By Unreliable Conviction, Anna Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ending Recidivism: How A Judicial Paradigm Shift Could Prevent Recidivism By Sex Offenders, Geoffrey S. Weed

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Into Hell: Gang-Prostitution Of Minors, Jan Fox

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Back To The Future: The Revival Of The Theory Of Nullification, Keely N. Kight

Mercer Law Review

American federalism, a system of dual sovereignty between the national government and state governments, is a "tale as old as time." Inherent in the dual sovereignty system is the issue that has been a point of great debate since the very inception of the United States of America: Which powers should the national government have and which should belong to the states? Indeed, "[e]lections have been won and lost," "a Civil War fought," and, most recently, the federal government shut down over this timeless question. With the exponential expansion of the federal government and sharp political disunion over health care, …

The Role Of Enticement In A Violation Of A Protection Order, Olivia M. Fritsche

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Turning Restitution Upside-Down: The Mortgage Fraud Restitution Formula Amidst Volatile Housing Prices, Nicole Scott

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When Women Kill Newborns: The Rhetoric Of Vulnerability, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter explores feminist jurisprudence regarding women who commit acts of violence, focusing specifically on questions of agency in neonaticide (killing a newborn). A case study approach illustrates the debate in feminist theory between same-treatment and different-treatment of women as compared to men. While some feminist criminologists urge that women who kill must be viewed the same as men (as having agency and responsibility), other feminists question this approach and point out that women who commit crimes that intersect with family law receive disproportionately harsh treatment and should be treated differently than men.

This chapter contends that the paradox raised …

Introducing Plea Bargaining Into Post-Conflict Legal Systems, Cynthia Alkon, Ena Dion

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal justice systems around the world face overwhelming caseloads and ever-increasing pressure to handle more. This pressure can be even more serious in post-conflict countries that face additional problems such as limited resources and fragile political environments. In overloaded criminal justice systems it may be difficult, if not impossible, to hold trials for every accused person in a timely way. As a result, countries are increasingly looking to alternative processes to handle criminal cases beyond traditional formal trials. Plea bargaining is frequently considered as a possible solution to problems of case backlogs, long periods of pretrial detention, and to help …

Justice Deferred Is Justice Denied: We Must End Our Failed Experiment In Deferring Corporate Criminal Prosecutions, Peter Reilly

Faculty Scholarship

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), deferred prosecution agreements are said to occupy an “important middle ground” between declining to prosecute on the one hand, and trials or guilty pleas on the other. A top DOJ official has declared that, over the last decade, the agreements have become a “mainstay” of white collar criminal law enforcement; a prominent criminal law professor calls their increased use part of the “biggest change in corporate law enforcement policy in the last ten years.”

However, despite deferred prosecution’s apparent rise in popularity among law enforcement officials, the article sets forth the argument …

Nullification As Law, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

The rule of law is central to our notion of governance and our legal system. The ideal of a knowable, regular, public law shimmers in the discourse of our democracy. It stands in sharp contrast to the arbitrary and often anarchic law of men, in which those with absolute power rule absolutely. But the devil is always in the details. To move past the idealism is to enter a contested realm where competing theories seek to claim the mantle of the rule of law. While this article cannot claim to resolve the dispute over the precise meaning or construct of …

Lessons From Inquisitorialism, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The adversarial system as it is implemented in the United States is a significant cause of wrongful convictions, wrongful acquittals and wrongful sentences. Empirical evidence suggests that a hybrid inquisitorial regime would be better than the American-style adversarial system at reducing these erroneous results. This paper proposes the integration of three inquisitorial mechanisms into the American trial process, judicial control over the adjudication process, non-adversarial treatment of experts, and required unsworn testimony by the defendant and defends the proposals against constitutional and practical challenges. While other scholars have suggested borrowing from overseas, these three proposals have yet to be presented …

Creating Crimmigration, César Cuahtémoc García Hernández

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mercy In Immigration Law, Allison Brownell Tirres

BYU Law Review

What role should mercy play in immigration law? This Article draws on the robust debate in the criminal law about the role of mercy in the hopes of starting a conversation among immigration law scholars and practitioners. Mercy skeptics argue that mercy contravenes justice, while advocates argue that mercy is a necessary countermeasure to the unrelenting harshness of criminal law today. I argue that the problems of mercy in the criminal law are amplified in the immigration law context. The lack of procedural and substantive protections for immigrants, the acceptance of unfettered discretion and lack of oversight of agency action, …

Summary Of Sanchez-Dominguez V. State, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 10, Brady Briggs

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined two issues: (1) whether the felony murder rule applies to killings which occur only after all of the elements of the underlying felony are complete, and (2) whether the felony murder rule requires that a killing be caused by the commission of the underlying felony.

Promoting The Study Of Wrongful Convictions In Criminal Justice Curricula, Jessica S. Henry

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Criminal justice education promotes interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking skills, and ethical decision making. A course on wrongful convictions falls squarely within that paradigm, as it draws upon criminology, criminal justice, law, psychology, and forensic science to examine basic assumptions about the criminal justice system and the actors within it. In a wrongful convictions course, students learn to think critically about the criminal justice system, and what happens when it fails to function as it should. Students identify practice and policy reforms that improve the accuracy and reliability of the system. This article first considers the broad objectives of criminal justice …

Property And Mortgage Fraud Under The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act: What Is Stolen And When Is It Returned?, Arthur Durst

William & Mary Business Law Review

The United States Circuit Courts of Appeals are split on how to calculate restitution in a criminal loan fraud situation where collateral is involved. This trend is best illustrated in cases involving mortgage fraud. The split stems from disagreement over how to account for the lender’s receipt of collateral property. The Third, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals consider the property returned when the person defrauded receives cash from the sale of collateral property. The Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits deem the property returned when the lender takes ownership of the collateral property. This Note argues that the …

Summary Of Peciado V. State, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 6, Geordan G. Logan

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined two issues: (1) whether due process requires that all sidebar proceedings be made a part of the record; and (2) whether prospective jurors who are anything less than unequivocal about their impartiality should be excused for cause.

Amicus Curiae Brief Of The National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers Supporting Respondent. Plumhoff V. Rickard, 134 S.Ct. 2012 (2014) (No. 12-1117), 2014 Wl 507161, Eric Schnapper, David M. Porter

Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Policing The Firm, D. Daniel Sokol

Notre Dame Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tyranny By Proxy: State Action And The Private Use Of Deadly Force, John L. Watts

Notre Dame Law Review

The Article begins in Part I with a discussion of the Supreme Court’s opinion and holding in Tennessee v. Garner. It then describes the continuing application of the fleeing felon rule to private actors despite the Court’s holding in Garner.

Part II describes the state action doctrine, examines its history, and clarifies its purpose. It explains why the Court’s early focus on enhancing individual autonomy and federalism as the purpose of the state action doctrine was only partially correct. In fact, the doctrine enhances many of the familiar constitutional strategies for the prevention of tyranny including: separation of powers, democratic …

Could You Use That In A Sentence, Please?: The Intersection Of Prosecutorial Ethics, Relevant Conduct Sentencing, And Criminal Rico Indictments, William S. Mcclintock

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note highlights a potential prosecutorial abuse at the intersection of RICO and the Sentencing Guidelines; specifically, how a weak RICO charge can create an unfair sentencing advantage over a defendant who is acquitted of that charge but is still convicted of at least one other count. Because this sentencing strategy involves two complex statutory frameworks, this Note requires a detailed overview of both the RICO Act and the current sentencing regime; this is necessary to clearly demonstrate how a faulty RICO indictment can be used to conceptually tie together otherwise unrelated acts and achieve an increased sentence under “relevant …

Protecting More Than The Front Page: Codifying A Reporter’S Privilege For Digital And Citizen Journalists, Kathryn A. Rosenbaum

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note will first explain, in Part I, why journalists need to be protected, and detail the history of reporters invoking a reporter’s privilege in court to protect themselves from revealing their sources or information. It will then discuss Branzburg v. Hayes in Section II.A. Section II.B briefly examines circuits’ receptivity to statutory or constitutional protections of reporters. The Supreme Court has stated that Congress could pass a law to protect reporters. However, while multiple federal shield laws have been proposed, none have been passed. The most recent proposal occurred in 2013, and as of December 2013, the Senate version …

Bridging The Cellular Divide: A Search For Consensus Regarding Law Enforcement Access To Historical Cell Data, Zachary Ross

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Training Curriculum: Responding To Sexual Abuse Of Youth In Custody: Addressing The Needs Of Boys, Girls, And Gender Nonconforming Youth - Notification Of Curriculum Use (Facilitator’S Guide), Brenda V. Smith, Jaime M. Yarussi, Rebecca Heinsen, Melissa C. Loomis, Caleb J. Bess, Tonya Davis, Lisa Capers, Kevin Dubose, Takiya Wheeler, Dr. Robert Bidwell

Research Reports & White Papers

The enclosed Responding to Sexual Abuse of Youth in Custody: Addressing the Needs of Boys, Girls, and Gender Nonconforming Youth curriculum was developed by the Project on Addressing Prison Rape at American University, Washington College of Law as part of contract deliverables for the National PREA Resource Center (PRC), a cooperative agreement between the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards served as the basis for the curriculum’s content and development with the goal of the Responding to Sexual Abuse of Youth in Custody: Addressing the …

Counterblast: Escaping The Gallows Singapore Style, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The four‐year long struggle by Yong Vui Kong to challenge his mandatory death sentence reveals how life and death decisions can turn on legal niceties. For instance, on 20 November 2009, the President of the Republic of Singapore turned down Yong's plea for clemency and this news was conveyed to the prisoner's brother by his then lawyer three days later. Along with this sad information, he was told that his brother would be hung on 4 December 2009. Yong's brother then engaged the respected human rights advocate, M. Ravi, who was granted an interview with the prisoner two days prior …

Contempt, Status, And The Criminalization Of Non-Conforming Girls, Cynthia Godsoe

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unexonerated: Factually Innocent Defendants Who Plead Guilty, John H. Blume, Rebecca K. Helm

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Several recent high profile cases, including the case of the West Memphis Three, have revealed (again), that factually innocent defendants do plead guilty. And, more disturbingly, in many of the cases, the defendant’s innocence is known, or at least highly suspected, at the time the plea is entered. Innocent defendants plead guilty most often, but not always, in three sets of cases: first, low level offenses where a quick guilty plea provides the key to the cellblock door; second, cases where defendants have been wrongfully convicted, prevail on appeal, and are then offered a plea bargain which will assure their …

Should Minnesota Recognize A State Constitutional Right To A Criminal Appeal?, Stan Keillor

Hamline Law Review

abstract

Creating A Wanted Poster From A Drop Of Blood: Using Dna Phenotyping To Generate An Artist's Rendering Of An Offender Based Only On Dna Shed At The Crime Scene, Charles E. Maclean

Hamline Law Review

abstract