Criminal Law Commons^™

The Penetration Of The Criminal Justice System Into Communities Of Color: A Leadership Challenge For The Legal Profession. Address At The Convocation On The Face Of The Profession Iii: Leadership Of The Bar; Sponsored By The New York State Judicial Institute On Professionalism In The Law On April 27, 2007 In Albany, Ny., Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Unlawful Enemy Combatants: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On Armed Services, 110th Cong., Apr. 26, 2007 (Statement Of Neal Kumar Katyal, Geo. U. L. Center), Neal K. Katyal

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Death Penalty In America: Perceptions, Reflection, And Reform, Corinna Lain, Thomas Sullivan, Erik Lillquist, John Cunningham, John Douglass, Michael Herring, Matthew Geary, Christopher Collins, Craig Cooley

University of Richmond Law Review Symposium

The “Death Penalty Reform” Panel was presented by Thomas Sullivan, Erik Lillquist, and John Cunningham. Thomas Sullivan was a senior partner at Jenner Block LLP, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, co-chair of the Illinois Governor George H. Ryan's Commission on Capital Punishment, and served as chairman of the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee. Erik Lillquist was Professor of Law at Seton Hall School of Law where he was Director of the Institute of Law, Science and Technology. John Cunningham was a Senior Trial Attorney with the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division …

Rights, Wrongs, And Comparative Justifications, Vera Bergelson

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

The goal of this article is to rethink the relationship between the concepts of justification and wrongdoing, which play vital roles in the theory of criminal law. Reading George P. Fletcher’s new book, The Grammar of Criminal Law, in the context of his earlier scholarship has led me to one major disagreement with Fletcher as well as with the traditional criminal law doctrine: for Fletcher and many others, wrongdoing and justification mutually exclude each other; for me, they do not.

Consider a hypothetical: a group of people are captured by criminals. The criminals are about to kill everyone but then …

State Criminal Justice And The Challenge Of Ex-Offender Mobility, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Creating An Adolescent Criminal Class: Juvenile Court Jurisdiction Over Status Offenders, Soma R. Kedia

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article argues that status offenders, who commit non-criminal offenses such as truancy or running away, are unfairly treated similarly to juvenile delinquents in the court system. This treatment often leads to detention in the same facilities as delinquents, which can exacerbate behavioral issues and increase the likelihood of future criminal behavior. The author advocates for a distinct approach to handling status offenders, emphasizing the need for social services and alternative programs tailored to their specific needs rather than punitive measures.

Can A Jury Believe My Eyes, And Should Courts Let Experts Tell Them Why Not? The Admissibility Of Expert Testimony On Cross-Racial Eyewitness Identification In New York After People V. Young, Jody E. Frampton

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sensors And Sensibilities, Kevin Werbach

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Global Debate On The Death Penalty, Sandra L. Babcock

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The debate over capital punishment in the United States - be it in the courts, in state legislatures, or on nationally televised talk shows - is always fraught with emotion. The themes have changed little over the last two or three hundred years. Does it deter crime? If not, is it necessary to satisfy society's desire for retribution against those who commit unspeakably violent crimes? Is it worth the cost? Are murderers capable of redemption? Should states take the lives of their own citizens? Are current methods of execution humane? Is there too great a risk of executing the innocent? …

On The Very Idea Of Transitional Justice, Jens David Ohlin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The phrase "transitional justice" has had an amazingly successful career at an early age. Popularized as an academic concept in the early 1990s in the aftermath of apartheid's collapse in South Africa, the phrase quickly gained traction in a variety of global contexts, including Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and Sierra Leone. A sizeable literature has been generated around it, so much so that one might even call it a sub-discipline with inter-disciplinary qualities. Nonetheless, the concept remains an enigma. It defines the contours of an entire field of intellectual inquiry, yet at the same time it hides more than it illuminates. …

Questions Of Mercy, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

My aim in this brief introduction is to organize the Symposium articles around two questions, recognizing that doing so means ignoring other important questions to which the articles attend. I also aim to paint in broad strokes, thus also ignoring much of the argumentative subtlety and nuance contained in the articles. With those caveats on the table, the questions are these: First, does mercy have any legitimate role to play in the administration of the criminal law of a liberal state? Second, if mercy does have some such role to play, for what reasons, or upon what grounds, can mercy …

"It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again": Williams V. Taylor, Wiggins V. Smith, Rompilla V. Beard And A (Partial) Return To The Guidelines Approach To The Effective Assistance Of Counsel, John H. Blume, Stacey D. Neumann

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Shoddy lawyering in capital cases is well documented. Many defendants facing the death penalty end up on death row not because of the heinousness of the crime they committed but rather because of the poor quality of trial counsel's performance. Despite the acknowledgment of sometimes shockingly poor representation by academics, litigators and even judges, most post-conviction claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are unsuccessful. Why? The legal standard for adjudicating these allegations which the Court adopted in Strickland v. Washington, which requires a defendant to demonstrate that his lawyer's performance was outside the "wide range of competent assistance" and that …

Death Penalty Jurisprudence In New York And The Supremacy Clause Of The United States Constitution: How Supreme Is It?, Joseph E. Fahey

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Court's Failure To Re-Enfranchise Felons Requires Congressional Remediation, Otis H. King, Jonathan A. Weiss

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping The State Out: The Separation Of Law And State In Classical Islamic Law, Lubna A. Alam

Michigan Law Review

The implementation and enforcement of Islamic law, especially Islamic criminal law, by modem-day Muslim nation-states is fraught with controversy and challenges. In Pakistan, the documented problems and failures of the country's attempt to codify Islamic law on extramarital sexual relations have led to efforts to remove rape cases from Islamic law courts to civil law courts. In striking contrast to Pakistan's experience, the Republic of the Maldives recently commissioned a draft of a penal law and sentencing guidelines based on Islamic law that abides by international norms. The incorporation of Islamic law into the legal systems of various countries around …

The Place Of Translation In Jerusalem's Criminal Trial Court, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

The court-appointed translator is largely an invisible actor in the legal space. The Israeli context provides an extreme example of this invisibility: apart from a general statutory definition of the court's obligation to translate criminal proceedings, the work of translation in the Israeli courtroom is mostly unregulated by state law, rendering it highly susceptible to informal manifestations. This article offers a critical empirical investigation into the micropractices of translation performed in the Jerusalem criminal trial court in 2002. On the face of things, the court-appointed translator performs a technical task in the everyday working of the court. Expected to mediate …

The Jurisprudence Of Punishment, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Birds Of An Illegal Feather: Prostitution And Paid Pornography Should Be Criminalized Together, Zachary David Streit

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The note argues that prostitution and paid pornography should be criminalized together under the same legal framework. Both activities are criticized for their harmful effects, including the objectification and exploitation of women, as well as contributing to social ills such as disease and violence. The author advocates for the use of existing prostitution laws to prosecute those involved in pornography, arguing that this approach is legally sound and would help reduce the negative impacts of both industries.

Introductory Remarks: Criminal Law Panel, Cynthia V. Ward

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Classic Revisited: Penal Theory In Paradise Lost, Jillisa Brittan, Richard A. Posner

Michigan Law Review

Milton's great poem can be enjoyed as a supernatural adventure story in the epic tradition-indeed almost as a science-fiction fantasy. An incredibly powerful supernatural figure-call him Father-lives on planet Heaven somewhere in outer space, surrounded by lesser supernatural beings, called Angels. Father begets Son asexually, and declares his intent to give him vice regal authority. Infuriated at Son's being promoted over him, the foremost Angel, L leads a third of the Angels in violent rebellion against Father and Son. At first it seems the rebels will best the loyal Angels. But Father sends in Son to defeat the rebels all …

Can Prosecutors Bluff? Brady V. Maryland And Plea Bargaining, John G. Douglass

Law Faculty Publications

The author discusses the symbolic value of the Brady rule in the pretrial context in the U.S. criminal justice system. Brady's symbolic power remains stronger than its corrective power in post-trial motions. It serves as a constitutional reminder to prosecutors because they cannot serve as architects of unfairness. Most prosecutors disclose more Brady material in pretrial discovery than the constitutional rule actually demands. This indicates that prosecutors can bluff.

A Strike At The Heart Of Democracy: Why Legal Challenges To Felon Disenfranchisement Laws Should Succeed, Alysia Robben

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Defense Of Torture, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

When The Price Is Too High: Rethinking China's Deterrence Strategy For Robbery, Peter D. Nestor

Washington International Law Journal

Economic property crime in China has soared since the country enacted market reforms in the early 1980s. Robbery rates are rising faster than most economic property crimes, such as larceny and fraud, and violent crimes, such as rape, murder, and assault. China’s strategy for deterrence is to raise the “price” of the crime by increasing the severity of the penalty. Since 1979, China’s criminal law has permitted the use of the death penalty for robbers in nearly all cases, and courts have applied it regularly and in many different types of robbery cases. Since 1983, China has formally engaged in …

Korea's New Prostitution Policy: Overcoming Challenges To Effectuate The Legislature's Intent To Protect Prostitutes From Abuse, Ji Hye Kim

Washington International Law Journal

Prostitution has been rampant in South Korea, exposing tens of thousands of women to abuse and violence. Beginning in 2000, however, women’s rights organizations spearheaded a legal reform campaign to change the nation’s prostitution policy. They drafted and proposed two bills to the National Assembly, which subsequently enacted them as laws. In passing the new legislation, the South Korean government vowed to eliminate prostitution as well as protect victims of exploitation and violence in the sex industry. However, the legislation fails to achieve these goals due to inherent inadequacies in the language and structure of the laws. This shortfall arises …

Dwi And Drugs: A Look At Per Se Laws For Marijuana, Charles R. Cordova, Jr.

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Terrorism And Trial By Jury: The Vices And Virtues Of British And American Criminal Law, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

British tradition and the American Constitution guarantee trial by jury for serious crime. But terrorism is not ordinary crime, and the presence of jurors may skew the manner in which terrorist trials unfold in at least three significant ways. First, organized terrorist groups may deliberately threaten jury members so the accused escapes penalty. The more ingrained the terrorist organization in the fabric of society, the greater the degree of social control exerted under the ongoing threat of violence. Second, terrorism, at heart a political challenge, may itself politicize a jury. Where nationalist conflict rages, as it does in Northern Ireland, …

Is Water Property?, Sandra B. Zellmer, Jessica Harder

Faculty Law Review Articles

One of the most controversial issues in natural resources law is whether interests in water are property. In the western United States, water is typically viewed by appropriators as a form of private property, while in the East it is not. In either case, the law is surprisingly unsettled, notwithstanding the important consequences that follow, particularly under constitutional takings jurisprudence. Treating water as property has significant implications for investment, conservation and environmental protection as well. Establishing secure property rights can foster stewardship and wise investment of labor and capital. By the same token, the absence of property ownership can result …

Three Conceptual Problems With The Doctrine Of Joint Criminal Enterprise, Jens David Ohlin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article dissects the Tadic court’s argument for finding the doctrine of joint criminal enterprise in the ICTY Statute. The key arguments are identified and each are found to be either problematic or insufficient to deduce the doctrine from the statute: the object and purpose of the statute to punish major war criminals, the inherently collective nature of war crimes and genocide and the conviction of war criminals for joint enterprises in World War II cases. The author criticizes this overreliance on international case law and the insufficient attention to the language of criminal statutes when interpreting conspiracy doctrines. The …

Emerging International Criminal Justice, Mark Findlay, Clare Mclean

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

International criminal justice is sufficiently well established to merit an overview of its origins and institutional development. This paper starts out by identifying the institutional indicia of international criminal justice and their close connection to the development of international human rights protections. Underlying these structural and process signposts is some controversy regarding their motivations. Has formal international criminal justice emerged in response to novel and genuine concerns for the safety of humanity, or is it a manifestation of global governance priorities in post conflict scenarios, regional and international?