Criminal Law Commons^™

Convicting Juveniles To Life Without Parole, Bradford Colbert, Alex Baker Kroeger

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mass Parental Incarceration And Sentencing Reform In Minnesota, Caitlin Curry, Veronica Horowitz, Julie Matonich, Kristin Stock

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Virtual Hearings And Blockchain Technology Solutions In Criminal Law, Chantell Bergquist

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Technology has evolved and raided our personal and professional lives. Although the courts are not immune to the advancement and integration of technology, the courts are not keeping up with relevant technological advancements. Historically, courts have been hesitant to embrace new technologies despite the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure creates the right to a “just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.” Likewise, the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct have determined attorneys must “keep abreast of …

Exploring Locus Of Control In Offender Cognition And Recidivism Paradigms, Anistasha Lightning, Danielle Polage

All Master's Theses

Working with four Washington State county jails to administer surveys to currently incarcerated inmates, we investigated locus of control and beliefs in the likelihood of continued legal involvement as possible antecedents to criminal recidivism. The surveys examined whether there was any connection between legal involvement frequency and the externalization of locus of control. We investigated external locus of control with specific respect to involvement with the law, the prospect of future incarceration, and feelings concerning the overall cause of original and/or sustained legal involvement utilizing the Revised Causal Dimension Scale (McAuley, Duncan, & Russell, 1992). We identified statistically significant interactions …

When Big Brother Becomes “Big Father”: Examining The Continued Use Of Parens Patriae In State Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings, Emily R. Mowry

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The U.S. Constitution grants American citizens numerous Due Process rights; but, historically, the Supreme Court declined to extend these Due Process rights to children. Initially, common-law courts treated child offenders over the age of seven in the same manner as adult criminals. At the start of the 20th century, though, juvenile reformers assisted in creating unique juvenile courts that used the parens patriae doctrine and viewed children as delinquent youths in need of judicial parental guidance rather than punishment. Later, starting in 1967, the Supreme Court released multiple opinions extending certain constitutional Due Process rights to children in juvenile delinquency …

Judges Do It Better: Why Judges Can (And Should) Decide Life Or Death, Andrew R. Ford

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Following its decision in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court of the United States has attempted to standardize procedures that states use to subject offenders to the ultimate penalty. In practice, this attempt at standardization has divided capital sentencing into two distinct parts: the death eligibility decision and the death selection decision. The eligibility decision addresses whether the sentencer may impose the death penalty, while the selection decision determines who among that limited subset of eligible offenders is sentenced to death. In Ring v. Arizona, the Court held for the first time that the Sixth Amendment right to …

Where The Constitution Falls Short: Confession Admissibility And Police Regulation, Courtney E. Lewis

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

A confession presented at trial is one of the most damning pieces of evidence against a criminal defendant, which means that the rules governing its admissibility are critical. At the outset of confession admissibility in the United States, the judiciary focused on a confession’s truthfulness. Culminating in the landmark case Miranda v. Arizona, judicial concern with the reliability of confessions shifted away from whether a confession was true and towards curtailing unconstitutional police misconduct. Post-hoc constitutionality review, however, is arguably inappropriate. Such review is inappropriate largely because the reviewing court must find that the confession was voluntary only by …

The Effect Media Has On Juror Bias, Tia Fasano

Honors College Theses

The purpose of the study was to illustrate the problems associated with juror bias and how the media contributes to it. The way the media portrays individuals, the language they use, and the pictures seen as affecting potential jurors when they determine verdicts of the people they hear about on the news. The study further investigates whether or not these jurors are influenced enough by the media to cause a bias detrimental to the defendant. The design of the study used multiple peer-reviewed sources, documentaries, and semi-structured interviews. Through these, information was gathered and analyzed. I found through the interviews …

Defending White Space, Addie C. Rolnick

Scholarly Works

Police violence against minorities has generated a great deal of scholarly and public attention. Proposed solutions—ranging from body cameras to greater federal oversight to anti-bias training for police—likewise focus on violence as a problem of policing. Amid this national conversation, however, insufficient attention has been paid to private violence. This Article examines the relationship between race, self-defense laws, and modern residential segregation. The goal is to sketch the contours of an important but undertheorized relationship between residential segregation, private violence, and state criminal law. By describing the interplay between residential segregation and modern self-defense law, this Article reveals how criminal …

Incapacitating Errors: Sentencing And The Science Of Change, M. Eve Hanan

Scholarly Works

Despite widespread support for shifting sentencing policy from “tough on crime” to “smart on crime,” reflected in legislation like the federal First Step Act, the scope of criminal justice reform has been limited. We continue to engage in practices that permanently incapacitate people while carving out only limited niches of sentencing reform for special groups like first-time nonviolent offenders and adolescents. We cannot, however, be “smart on crime” without a theory of punishment that supports second chances for the broadest range of people convicted of crimes.

This Article posits that the cultural belief that adults do not change poses a …

Global Carceral Feminism And Domestic Violence: What The West Can Learn From Reconciliation In Uganda, Aparna Polavarapu

Scholarly Works

Around the world, policies and laws emphasizing criminal justice have dominated domestic violence interventions for decades. In the United States, certain feminist advocates worked with state actors to develop a primarily criminal justice response to domestic violence. Western influence in the international human rights movement has spread this approach around the world, leading it to become the key means of addressing violence against women. However, critics argue that the overreliance on the criminal justice system is a key failure of the anti-domestic-violence movement, with some referring to the strain of feminism promoting prosecution as "carceral feminism. " The carceral approach …

Crime And Punishment In Gold Country: A Historical Case-Study, Lawrence M. Friedman, Shih-Chun Chien

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Over-Indebted Criminals In Canada, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Arash Nayerahmadi

Articles & Book Chapters

The criminal justice system often imposes financial, as well as penal, consequences upon offenders. Often these fines and surcharges are levied on those who are least able to bear the cost. This article examines the "justice debt" regime, including the formerly mandatory victim surcharge, to illustrate the ways it interacts with the lives of indigent Canadians. After canvassing American scholarship on the topic, the authors conclude with recommendations on how the problem can be alleviated, and how the topic can be more fully researched in a Canadian context.

Comparisons Of The Soul: A Foucauldian Analysis Of Reasonable Doubt, Jeri Mallory

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper is to uncover a new level of thinking regarding the discourse and debate around the standard of reasonable doubt and how it is used in our court rooms. The current argument surrounding the reasonable doubt standard has become circular and reached an impasse. By introducing the lens of social control and using the writings of notable French philosopher Michel Foucault, this paper looks at the origins and development of the reasonable doubt standard and links it with the increasing methods of social control present in punishment as well as evaluating the cultural narrative around its …

Proceedings Of The Thirteenth International Humanitarian Law Roundtable, Year In Review Lecture, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

What I think I’d like to do is tell three stories of three things that did happen in international criminal justice over the past year, and use my time as a vehicle and doorway to think about law and also how law fits in life. One of the themes that I want to evoke through these stories is what I felt is an important vibe in international criminal law enforcement this past year. And it’s the theme of time and age and coming of age.

Incorporating Collateral Consequences Into Criminal Procedure, Paul T. Crane

Law Faculty Publications

A curious relationship currently exists between collateral consequences and criminal procedures. It is now widely accepted that collateral consequences are an integral component of the American criminal justice system. Such consequences shape the contours of many criminal cases, influencing what charges are brought by the government, the content of plea negotiations, the sentences imposed by trial judges, and the impact of criminal convictions on defendants. Yet, when it comes to the allocation of criminal procedures, collateral consequences continue to be treated as if they are external to the criminal justice process. Specifically, a conviction’s collateral consequences, no matter how severe, …

Jury Sentencing In The United States: The Antithesis Of The Rule Of Law, Maryann Grover

Law Student Publications

"In his dissent in Glossip v. Gross, Justice Breyer declared that “[t]he arbitrary imposition of punishment is the antithesis of the rule of law.” He went on to assert that, for a defendant, to be sentenced to death was akin to being struck by lightning. Such randomness and arbitrariness in capital sentencing results from the wide discretion granted to sentencing actors, and runs counter to the firmly held belief that every defendant in the criminal justice system deserves fair and just treatment." [..]

Warrantless Searches Of Electronic Devices At U.S. Borders: Securing The Nation Or Violating Digital Liberty?, Ahad Khilji

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The steady increase of U.S. citizens traveling with smart phones and other electronic devices has been met with the rise of searches and seizures by CBP officers at U.S borders. Although only less than 0.1% of all travelers may actually be subjected to a search while entering the United States, when comparing the statistics between a six month period in 2016 with the same period in 2017, electronic device searches have almost doubled from 8,383 to 14,993. Approximately one million travelers to the U.S. are inspected by the CBP every day. Out of this population, nearly 2,500 electronic devices are …

Managing Digital Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The burdens and challenges of discovery—especially electronic discovery—are usually associated with civil, not criminal cases. This is beginning to change. Already common in white-collar crime cases, voluminous digital discovery is increasingly a feature of ordinary criminal prosecutions.

This Article examines the explosive growth of digital evidence in criminal cases and the efforts to manage its challenges. It then advances three claims about criminal case discovery in the digital age. First, the volume, complexity, and cost of digital discovery will incentivize the prosecution and the defense to cooperate more closely in cases with significant amounts of electronically stored information (ESI). Second, …

Rwu Law News: The E-Newsletter Of Roger Williams University School Of Law January 2019, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

A Warrant Requirement Resurgence: The Fourth Amendment In The Roberts Court, Benjamin Priester

Journal Publications

Over many years, the United States Supreme Court has developed an extensive body of precedent interpreting and enforcing the provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement agents conducting criminal investigations. Commonly called the "warrant requirement," one key component of this case law operates to deem some police investigatory techniques to be unconstitutional unless they are conducted pursuant to a search warrant issued in advance by a judge. The terms of the doctrine and its exceptions also authorize other investigatory actions as constitutionally permissible without a search warrant. The …

Brief Of Legal Ethics Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of The State’S Motion For A New Trial In State Of Missouri V. Lamar Johnson, John P. Sahl

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This amicus curiae brief, filed by a group of nationally recognized legal ethics scholars including Professor Jack P. Sahl, supports the State of Missouri’s motion for a new trial in the case of Lamar Johnson, who had been convicted of murder. The amici argue that overwhelming evidence of innocence, prosecutorial misconduct, and systemic failures in the original trial undermine the integrity of the conviction and necessitate judicial intervention. The brief emphasizes that the legal profession has an ethical duty to correct miscarriages of justice and that courts have an obligation to ensure fairness, even post-conviction. Drawing on principles of legal …

It Takes A Village: An Analysis Of Multilateralism And The Legal Mechanisms Designed To Prevent Violence Against Women, Madison Ivey

Scripps Senior Theses

Treaties and international organizations work together to create a global environment that protects the rights of a person and actively promotes the well-being of society. However, they do not necessarily guarantee the rights of everyone. Since women are not explicitly named in human rights documents, they are often not granted equal human rights. Therefore, it takes more than just international legal instruments to guarantee women's rights as human rights. A combination of civil society (NGOs), International organizations (IOs), and domestic government creates a perfect coalition to beat the barriers that must be overcome to fully protect women from violence.

Harm, Sex, And Consequences, I. India Thusi

Faculty Scholarship

At a moment in history when this country incarcerates far too many people, criminal legal theory should set forth a framework for reexamining the current logic of the criminal legal system. This Article is the first to argue that "distributive consequentialism, " which centers the experiences of directly impacted communities, can address the harms of mass incarceration and mass criminalization. Distributive consequentialism is a framework for assessing whether criminalization is justified ft focuses on the outcomes of criminalization rather than relying on indeterminate moral judgments about blameworthiness, or "desert, which are often infected by the judgers' own implicit biases. Distributive …

Is Vagueness Choking The White-Collar Statute?, David Kwok

Georgia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Harm, Sex, And Consequences, India Thusi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

At a moment in history when this country incarcerates far too many people, criminal legal theory should set forth a framework for reexamining the current logic of the criminal legal system. This Article is the first to argue that “distributive consequentialism,” which centers the experiences of directly impacted communities, can address the harms of mass incarceration and mass criminalization. Distributive consequentialism is a framework for assessing whether criminalization is justified. It focuses on the outcomes of criminalization rather than relying on indeterminate moral judgments about blameworthiness, or “desert,” which are often infected by the judgers’ own implicit biases. Distributive consequentialism …

Mens Rea Reform And Its Discontents, Benjamin Levin

Publications

This Article examines the debates over recent proposals for “mens rea reform.” The substantive criminal law has expanded dramatically, and legislators have criminalized a great deal of common conduct. Often, new criminal laws do not require that defendants know they are acting unlawfully. Mens rea reform proposals seek to address the problems of overcriminalization and unintentional offending by increasing the burden on prosecutors to prove a defendant’s culpable mental state. These proposals have been a staple of conservative-backed bills on criminal justice reform. Many on the left remain skeptical of mens rea reform and view it as a deregulatory vehicle …

The Disappointing History Of Science In The Courtroom: Frye, Daubert, And The Ongoing Crisis Of “Junk Science” In Criminal Trials, Jim Hilbert

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Grant Of Clemency To Cyntoia Brown Highlights Deep Rooted Social Issues, Cheryl Page

Journal Publications

Society and our criminal justice system place a value on victims and defendants. We manifest this valuation in how we mete out punishment, how we choose who will be stopped, frisked, searched, arrested, charged, given probation, have charges dismissed and even expunged. We show the worth we place in people by the fact that 95% of elected prosecutors are white males and they have control and say over a jail and prison population that is increasingly People of Color.

The Double Whammy Of Being Female And African-American: How Black Women Are More Vulneralbe To Trafficking And Other Forms Of Discrimination, Cheryl Page

Journal Publications

Commercial sexual exploitation discriminates even among those that fall prey to this heinous criminal enterprise. It is impossible to comprehensively discuss this topic without addressing the fact that the majority of victims are female, females of color, traditionally are from a lower economic status, tend to not have as many educational opportunities, have experienced some form of abuse and trauma, have been a part of the foster care system, and have other vulnerabilities that make them even more susceptible to being trafficked. This discussion would be incomplete without also addressing how trafficking is connected to race and racial discrimination, poverty, …