Criminal Law Commons^™

No Magic Formula: A New Approach For Calculating The Ten Year Time Period For Admission Of Prior Conviction Evidence, Amy E. Sloan

All Faculty Scholarship

Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 609 governs admission of prior conviction evidence. Under this rule, it is easier to admit evidence of a prior conviction that is less than ten years old than to admit evidence of older convictions. The ten year period is measured from the later of either the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement.

Calculating the ten year period is fairly straightforward in most cases but becomes confusing when the witness has been confined for violating the terms of probation, parole, or some other period of conditional release. Does the confinement for violation …

Judicial Response To Changing Societal Values On The Death Penalty: Must The Method Chosen Be The Most Humane, Brian P. Hill

St. Thomas Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hiv-Specific Crime Legislation: Targetting An Epidemic For Criminal Prosecution, Erin M. O'Toole

Journal of Law and Health

A growing number of state legislatures have drafted HIV specific crime statutes which criminalize the intentional transmission of the HIV virus to another. This discussion will focus on the impact of HIV-specific crime statutes on the following issues: confidentiality, the right to privacy, the decision to submit to HIV testing, and how the statutes may or may not succeed in containing the spread of HIV.

Federal Rules Of Evidence And The Political Process, David P. Leonard

Fordham Urban Law Journal

An important tenet of American evidence law is the strict regulation on the introduction of character evidence. This principal has begun to be chipped away at through the adoption of amendments that allow character evidence to be introduced in certain types of cases. The Federal Rules of Evidence were subject to very little amendment during their first 20 years of use, and have always represented a blend of conservatism about evidence law and political compromise. This tension has been kept in check until the proposal of Rules 413-415, which represents a concession to the politicization of the rules. Before imposing …

The Battle Over The Brady Bill And The Future Of Gun Control Advocacy, Richard M. Aborn

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No matter how effective a legislative scheme is, legislation alone will not eradicate the deeply rooted culture of gun violence that exists in this country. Accordingly, Handgun Control divides its efforts between legislative and non-legislative efforts. In this regard, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence carries out the non-legislative interventions of Handgun Control. These efforts include working with elementary, secondary and high schools to promote a gun violence reduction curriculum; litigating on behalf of gun victims; defending gun control legislation in the courts; working with the entertainment industry concerning the messages in popular entertainment about gun violence; and working with …

Undertaking The Task Of Reforming The American Character Evidence Prohibition: The Importance Of Getting The Experiment Off On The Right Foot, Edward J. Imwinkelried

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The United States Congress and the State Legislatures of Indiana and Missouri have chosen illogical starting points in their experiments to reform the prohibition against introducing character evidence in criminal cases. Rather than start by allowing the introduction of past crimes with high recidivism rates such as burglary, these legislatures have chosen crimes with minimal probative value as predictors of the accused's conduct. By allowing the the introduction of criminal history in regard to criminal sexual conduct and child molestation, these legislatures increase the risk of wrongful conviction due to the disdain with which the average citizen views these types …

Shots Across No Man's Land: A Response To Handgun Control, Inc.'S, Richard Aborn, Nicholas J. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In response to Richard Aborn's article "The Battle Over the Brady Bill and the Future of Gun Control Advocacy, Johnson argues that Aborn's "bad gun formula" trivializes the Second Amendment, ignores issues vital to the gun control debate, and obfuscates what should ultimately need to be a choice between an armed citizenry or a disarmed one. Aborn's article suggests no real changes and does not effectively advance the debate.

The Executioners Sing, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The O.J. Inquisition: A United States Encounter With Continental Criminal Justice, Myron Moskovitz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

October 3, 1995 marked the end of the O.J. Simpson double murder trial, which lasted 474 days and was billed "the trial of the century." After less than four hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted Mr. Simpson of all charges. The following article is a dramatization of how a case similar to the Simpson trial might be handled by a civil-law European criminal justice system.

Utilizing an unusual format, Professor Myron Moskovitz examines and illustrates the differences between the United States and civil-law European criminal justice systems. The author uses a play script inspired by the events in the trial …

The Age Of Criminal Responsibility In An Era Of Violence: Has Great Britain Set A New International Standard?, Stephanie J. Millet

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

With the alarming rise of juvenile crime and violence during the past decade, policymakers across the international community have struggled to develop effective juvenile criminal justice systems apart from the existing systems tailored to adults. The wide variations in methods and philosophies utilized in different states indicate that there is no consensus on the proper treatment of young offenders. Using the recent Bulger case as a focus, this Note examines two competing paradigms of juvenile justice found within the British juvenile justice system, with particular emphasis on the age of criminal responsibility. After discussing recent developments in Great Britain's juvenile …

Proportionality In Non-Capital Sentencing: The Supreme Court's Tortured Approach To Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Steven P. Grossman

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the Supreme Court's treatment of the Eighth Amendment with respect to claims of excessive prison sentences. Specifically, it addresses the issue of whether and to what degree the Eighth Amendment requires that a punishment not be disproportionate to the crime. In analyzing all of the modern holdings of the Court in this area, this Article finds significant fault with each. The result of this series of flawed opinions from the Supreme Court is that the state of the law with respect to proportionality in sentencing is confused, and what law can be discerned rests on weak foundations. …

Imagery And Adjudication In The Criminal Law: The Relationship Between Images Of Criminal Defendants And Ideologies Of Criminal Law In Southern Antebellum And Modern Appellate Decisions, Bernard Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal law opinions often project a distinct image of the accused. Sometimes, she is cast in a sympathetic light and may appear vulnerable or impressionable: a single mother, whose husband has died, struggling to raise her two, loving children; an impoverished, nineteen-year-old African-American with a fifth-grade education, "mentally dull and 'slow to learn;'" or a defenseless "obedient servant," protecting himself from an "adversary armed with a deadly weapon." On other occasions, the defendant may appear threatening, savage or even diabolical: a cold-blooded recidivist that escapes from a prison workcrew, brutally stabs, rapes and murders a woman, and returns for a …

Sedition In Nova Scotia: R. V. Wilkie (1820) And The Incontestable Illegality Of Seditious Libel Before R. V. Howe (1835), Barry Cahill

Dalhousie Law Journal

Given its primacy and exceptionality in the Nova Scotian context, Wilkie both exemplifies the judiciary's role in official repression, and instantiates the importance of what Wright calls "the ideological mechanisms of the criminal law" in prescribing the outer limits of legitimate political discourse. This paper examines the first known use by the government of Nova Scotia of the eighteenth-century, judicially-invented misdemeanour of seditious libel in order to silence and punish criticism of the ruling eite. As Nova Scotia had neither indigenous caselaw, nor statutory legislation to supplement and reinforce the common law offence-Upper Canada's SeditionAct (1804) was still in full …

Proportionality As A Guiding Principle In Young Offender Dispositions, Paul Riley

Dalhousie Law Journal

Sentencing is traditionally regarded as one of the most difficult and challenging functions of the criminal justice system. In arriving at the appropriate sanction to be imposed upon an offender, a court must reconcile the principles and objectives of the criminal law with the criminal act committed, the circumstances surrounding its commission, and the character of the offender who committed it. The court must, with the guidance of a few abstract, broadly philosophical, and often contradictory principles of sentencing, decide upon a sanction which is appropriate in the very concrete and factually specific case within which it is presented. This …

The Criminal Defense Lawyer's Reliance On Bias And Prejudice, Eva Nilsen

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is divided into three parts. Part I examines both the many contexts in which criminal defense lawyers and clinical students encounter bias and prejudice,¹² and the commonly-raised objections to its exploitation. Part II looks at the way the tactical use of bias relates to a lawyer's duty of zealous advocacy. Here, the Article focuses on whether existing ethics rules provide guidance for a lawyer's use of bias and whether proposed rules aimed at eliminating such advocacy would improve or diminish justice. This article argues against such efforts because they impinge on legitimate lawyering, and they may distract …

From The Battlefront To The Homefront: Infrared Surveillance And The War On Drugs Place Privacy Under Siege, Lynne M. Pochurek

St. Thomas Law Review

While George Orwell contemplated the realities of modem technology racing ahead with ever increasing speed and thwarting our individual privacy, it is clear that the Framers of the Constitution did not. This technological advancement, coupled with America's overriding concern with fighting the "war on drugs," has immensely compromised the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Once commanding great respect, this Amendment was "sanctified by a Supreme Court that felt compelled to protect all of us, the innocent and guilty alike, from arbitrary and unlawful government intrusions." Unfortunately, the modem courts have not been faithful in adhering to the Framers' …

Separating The Victim From The Abuser: Chapter 94-135 And The Florida Legislature's Most Recent Attempts To Control Domestic Violence, Diane F. Medley

St. Thomas Law Review

This comment will look at Chapter 94-135 of the laws of Florida and the statutes it altered as compared to the recommendations from The First Report of the Governor's Task Force on Domestic Violence5 as well as methods effectively being used by other states. It will show that Florida's new Act is a curious mixture of strength and weakness within the statutes, taking some new actions, yet not moving forward and sometimes even regressing in areas where decisive steps could have been taken, notably in such aspects as police intervention and reporting, pro-prosecution policies, and injunctions.

A Case Of Clothing And Smell Obsession In A Bisexual Adult Woman, Marianne Wesson

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Sentencing Guidelines As A Not-So-Model Penal Code, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

We are accustomed to thinking about the criminal law, and the procedures for enforcing it, as divided into two separate stages. The first stage – the subject of penal codes and jury trials – concerns the definition of culpable conduct and the adjudication of guilt. The second stage – sentencing – concerns the consequences of conviction for the offender. Only rarely do we acknowledge that the conventional separation of these stages into compartments is highly misleading.

The articles in this Issue of FSR address, in one way or another, the extent to which the concerns of the substantive criminal law …

What Is Punishment Imposed For?, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The institution of punishment invites a number of philosophical queries. Sometimes the question is: How do we know that inflicting discomfort and disadvantage is indeed punishment? This is a critical question, for example, in cases of deportation or disbarment proceedings. Classifying the sanction as punishment triggers application of the Sixth Amendment and its procedural guarantees. In other situations the question might be: Why do we punish? What is the purpose of making people suffer? In this context, we encounter the familiar debates about the conflicting appeal of retribution, general deterrence, special deterrence, and rehabilitation.

In this article I wish to …

White Collar Crime From Scratch: Some Observations On The East European Experience, Sarah N. Welling

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Essay recounts the Author’s experiences with an American Bar Association program called the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI). The Author traveled in Eastern Europe and focused on white collar crime issues in Poland. The Author was exposed to Eastern Europe's conversion to democracy and a market economy and the role of white collar crime in this conversion. Poland is drafting white collar crime statutes from scratch. There is also the opportunity that Poland’s effort can help us examine our attitudes toward white collar crime.

Reforming The Criminal Trial, Craig M. Bradley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Truth And Consequences: The Force Of Blackmail's Central Case, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Blackmail commentary continues to proliferate. One purpose of this paper is to show what we agree on. Its primary tool will be to define what I call the "central case" of blackmail literature, and to supply the connecting links that will allow us to see how various normative theories converge in condemning central case blackmail. Admittedly, the law criminalizes more than my central case. But once we recognize that the central case is neither puzzling nor paradoxical, it may be easier to handle the border cases that arise.

Family Violence-Investigating Child Abuse And Learning From British Mistakes, Alastair Bissett-Johnson

Dalhousie Law Journal

It seems appropriate at the onset to set out something of what the disciplines of law, medicine and social work know about family violence and when, during recent years, this knowledge came to the attention of professionals, the public and legislature. We can then, perhaps, judge whether our existing laws, rules of evidence and procedure take this information adequately into account in dealing with cases of violence within the family. Whilst solving these problems takes time, and law often lags behind the behavioural sciences, the question arises whether the lag is too long and whether differences between experts in the …

A Guide To Pathological Evidence For Lawyers And Police Officers, Gilles Renaud

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Bench, the Criminal Bar, the Civil Bar, and Law Enforcement officers will all hail the publication of the Third Edition of this outstanding work by Dr. Jaffe, whose lengthy and distinguished career as the former Medical Director of the Centre of Forensic Sciences has been marked by a desire to educate and to demystify the science of pathology. Although the text is relatively brief, the 246 pages include 17 well structured and clearly written chapters that discuss authoritatively subjects ranging from the Medico-Legal Autopsy to the role of the Pathologist in instructing defence counsel. Of note, the topic of …

Criminology: A Reader's Guide, Bruce P. Archibald

Dalhousie Law Journal

As a journeyman law teacher, sometime sociologist, enthusiastic law reformer, and an occasional dabbler in criminology and comparative law, this volume came to me like manna from heaven. It's an intelligent catalogue of almost all I ever wanted to know but most often never had time to read. Modestly called "a reader's guide", this book will serve a multitude of purposes for anyone with an interest in criminology. It is an excellent starting point for the student wishing to commence research on nearly any serious criminological topic. Criminal justice professionals who wish to step out of their narrow niche and …

A Moral Standard For The Prosecutor's Exercise Of The Charging Discretion, Bennett L. Gershman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The prosecutor's decision to institute criminal charges is the broadest and least regulated power in American criminal law. The judicial deference shown to prosecutors generally is most noticeable with respect to the charging function. This Essay discusses three hypothetical cases that present both realistic and recurring challenges to the prosecutor's charging power. The first case depends on a factual determination of a witness's reliability. The second case depends on a factual determination of the witness's truthfulness. The third case revolves around a legal determination regarding the applicability of a defense. Together, these cases provide a setting in which a moral …

The Urban Crimnal Justice System: A Case Of Fairness, John F. Keenan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This short essay contains the presiding judges recollections of the case People v. Robles as a way to discuss public perception of fairness in the criminal justice system.

The Urban Criminal Justice System: Where Young + Black + Male = Probable Cause, Elizabeth A. Gaynes

Fordham Urban Law Journal

We live in a country where one out of four young African-American men is under some form of custodial supervision. In our nation's capital, seven out of ten African-American men can anticipate being arrested and jailed at least once before reaching the age of thirty-five. We live in a city where a black man between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four is far more likely to die of homicide than all other causes combined. The official response to the problem of urban crime by minority youth has been prison, prison, and more prison. This essay provides an overview and examples …

The High Cost Of Juvenile Justice, Diane Ridley Gatewood

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay will discuss the high cost of incarcerating substantial numbers of minority juveniles and will advocate alternatives to detention. The author discusses how minority youth are disproportionately affected at multiple stages of the criminal justice process: arrests, detentions, adjudication, and disposition. The Essay further discusses the increased use of the prison system for juveniles. The Essay concludes with several recommendations for how minority youth can be treated more fairly within the system and recommends alternatives to incarceration.