Criminal Law Commons^™

Gun Violence: Chicago, Illinois, Kayla Dillon

Global Issues in Public Health

Gun violence has been, and continues to be, a significant problem in Chicago, Illinois. There have been several programs in place that have worked towards improving the level of gun violence. One of the most noticeable being Project Safe Neighborhood, which began in 2001. Part of what makes these programs, and programs similar to it, necessary is that it targets the populations most at-risk of gun violence. By targeting these specific regions of the city, these programs can provide the resources necessary to improve the condition of the city in the long-term, as well as prevent the condition from spreading …

The Office Of The Prosecutor: Seeking Justice Or Serving Global Imperialism?, Shannon Fyfe

Scholarly Articles

The international criminal courts and tribunals, especially the ICC, have been strongly criticized for their susceptibility to political influence. Some have argued that the ICC has a distinctly Western bias and is participating in a new kind of imperialism in Africa. Others argue that history and the complicity of the West should disqualify the international community from demanding the prosecution of individuals participating in conflicts resulting directly from colonialism. Many have focused on the nature of the creation of the judicial bodies and the inherent political nature of judicial decisions regarding whom to prosecute. In this article, I offer a …

A Systematic Look At A Serial Problem: Sexual Harassment Of Students By University Faculty, Nancy Chi Cantalupo, William C. Kidder

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexual Privacy, Danielle Keats Citron

Faculty Scholarship

Those who wish to control and expose the identities of women and people from marginalized communities routinely do so by invading their privacy. People are secretly recorded in bedrooms and public bathrooms, and “up their skirts.” They are coerced into sharing nude photographs and filming sex acts under the threat of public disclosure of their nude images. People’s nude images are posted online without permission. Machine-learning technology is used to create digitally manipulated “deep fake” sex videos that swap people’s faces into pornography.

At the heart of these abuses is an invasion of sexual privacy—the behaviors and expectations that manage …

From Premodern Christianity To The Postmodern Jury, Ian Farrell

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Reviewing: James Q. Whitman, The Origins of Reasonable Doubt: Theological Roots of the Criminal Trial (Yale University Press 2016); Dennis Hale, The Jury in America: Triumph and Decline (University Press of Kansas 2016).

Bias, Corruption & Obstruction, Oh My: The Due Process "Shocks The Conscience" Limit On Investigative & Prosecutorial Conduct, Elizabeth Price Foley

Faculty Publications

Due process guarantees the government will not exercise its power in a manner falling below the standard of civilized decency. Under Supreme Court precedent, behavior by government officials, including prosecutors and investigators, that objectively may be characterized as outrageous, arbitrary, capricious, biased, vindictive, or conscience shocking violates due process. Whether officials’ behavior crosses the constitutional threshold requires an assessment of the totality of the circumstances and is, accordingly, a factually sensitive inquiry. Facts disinterred thus far suggest that the “collusion” narrative—alleging that Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign colluded to throw the 2016 presidential election—may have a corrupt or politically biased …

Legalizing Marijuana: Lessons From The United States, Michael Vitiello

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Brock Turner: Sorting Through The Noise, Michael Vitiello

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

PART I. THE MEDIA’S ROLE ............................................................................... 634

A. Six Months for Rape? ............................................................................ 634

B. Okay, But Sixth Months for Sexual Assault? ......................................... 638

C. But Vitiello, You are Cherry-Picking the Facts ..................................... 643

D. But Judge Persky Showed Bias, Racial or Otherwise ........................... 646

PART II: TAKING THE WRONG PATH TOWARDS RECALL ................................... 649

A. Existing Checks on Judicial Misconduct ............................................... 650

B. What’s Not to Like About Recall? ......................................................... 652

III. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ............................................................................. 659

Convicting With Reasonable Doubt: An Evidentiary Theory Of Criminal Law, Doron Teichman

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article presents an evidentiary theory of substantive criminal law according to which sanctions are distributed in proportion to the strength of the evidence mounted against the defendant. It highlights the potential advantages associated with grading penalties in proportion to the probability of wrongdoing and situates this claim within both consequentialist and deontological theories of punishment. Building on this analysis, the Article reviews the doctrinal tools used to achieve the goal of evidentiary grading of sanctions and shows that key factors in criminal law are geared towards dealing with evidentiary uncertainty. Finally, the Article explores the underlying logic of the …

Unlocking The Fifth Amendment: Passwords And Encrypted Devices, Laurent Sacharoff

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Each year, law enforcement seizes thousands of electronic devices — smartphones, laptops, and notebooks — that it cannot open without the suspect’s password. Without this password, the information on the device sits completely scrambled behind a wall of encryption. Sometimes agents will be able to obtain the information by hacking, discovering copies of data on the cloud, or obtaining the password voluntarily from the suspects themselves. But when they cannot, may the government compel suspects to disclose or enter their password?

This Article considers the Fifth Amendment protection against compelled disclosures of passwords — a question that has split and …

Why Courts Fail To Protect Privacy: Race, Age, Bias, And Technology, Bernard Chao, Catherine Durso, Ian Farrell, Christopher Robertson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable “searches and seizures,” but in the digital age of stingray devices and IP tracking, what constitutes a search or seizure? The Supreme Court has held that the threshold question depends on and reflects the “reasonable expectations” of ordinary members of the public concerning their own privacy. For example, the police now exploit the “third party” doctrine to access data held by email and cell phone providers, without securing a warrant, on the Supreme Court’s intuition that the public has no expectation of privacy in that information. Is that assumption correct? If judges’ intuitions about …

Intimate Partner Violence & Men’S Professional Sports: Advancing The Ball, Chelsea Augelli, Tamara L. Kuennen

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article examines how men'sprofessional sports leagues treat domestic violence committed by players. Over the past twenty years, but particularly over the last five, the public has criticized, and the media has shone a spotlight on, the big leagues' ignoring of the issue. Many call for parity between how the criminal justice system treats the issue of domestic violence and how the leagues should treat it, arguing for a zero-tolerance approach. This article applies lessons learned by feminist law and policy makers and legal scholars in the development of the larger justice system response to domestic violence to the nascent …

Giving Teeth To State Constitutions: Using History To Argue Utah's Constitution Affords Greater Protections To Criminal Defendants, Samuel P. Newton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Pursing The Guilty And Protecting The Innocent Through Smart Prosecution, Amy Weirich

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2017 Symposium by General Amy Weirich, who serves as the District Attorney General for the 30^th Judicial District in Memphis, Tennessee. She speaks about what district attorneys do and also, the big question posed: “If I could change one thing about the criminal justice system, what would that be?”. She starts by providing background on how the office in Shelby County, Tennessee, works and how most DA’s offices work around the nation and moves on to Shelby County's pilot of vertical prosecution including community policing, community prosecution and hopeful implementation of community …

It's Amazing What You Can Find In Those Books: Top Ten Underutilized Rules For The Criminal Law Practitioner, Wade Davies

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2017 Symposium by Wade Davies a partner at Ritchie Dillard Davies & Johnson in Knoxville, Tennessee. You should never assume that you know how to do something no matter how long you have been practicing law. One of the best things you can do if you’re trying cases, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, is to take out the rule book and re-read the Rules of Evidence and the Rules of Criminal Procedure. When you read the rules in a different context when you’re working on different cases, reconsidering the rules …

Public Defense In Tennessee: Public Pretense?, Dawn Deaner

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2017 Symposium by Dawn Deaner the Metropolitan Public Defender for Nashville-Davidson County. Today I will talk about the problems I see in Tennessee, and some solutions that could help. I am a public defender, and I am going to talk about public defense in Tennessee from a public defender’s perspective. I will touch upon ideals of equality, justice, fairness, and ethics. I will also touch on our legal duty, as well as our moral duty as people who care, hopefully, about equal justice in this country.

Prosecutorial Ethics And Wrongful Convictions, Victor (Torry) S. Johnson

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2017 Symposium by Victor S. (Torry) Johnson former District Attorney General for Davidson County and current visiting Professor of Law at Belmont University College of Law. Today, we are going to talk about lessons from wrongful convictions. We are going to look at the historical contexts of wrongful convictions. We will examine some of the main factors that seem to exist in some of the important cases that illustrate those wrongful convictions. We will also talk about the possible causes and look at the role that lawyers play, regardless of which side of …

Belmont Criminal Law Journal Symposium 2017: Judicial Panel, Jeffery S. Bivins, Joseph A. Woodruff, Timothy L. Easter, Angelita B. Dalton

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of the Judicial Panel given during the 2017 Symposium featuring Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins, Judge Joseph A. Woodruff, Judge Timothy L. Easter, and Judge Angelita B. Dalton.

Title Ix From A Coordinator's Perspective, Kathy Hargis, Stephanie Roth

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2018 Symposium by Title IX Coordinators Kathy Hargis and Stephanie Roth giving a sense of what exactly Title IX provides for and what the scope of Title IX is.

Getting It Right: Title Ix's Role In Adjudicating Sexual Assault Claims, Mary Margaret "Meg" Penrose

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Sexual assault is a crime. We have a serious issue in the United States with sexual assault and sexual harassment. We are seeing this play out right now, and I think the “Me Too” campaign has brought important attention to this issue. An issue that impacts not only our college residence halls, but, as we have seen, the halls of Congress. Serious people are not debating whether sexual assault and sexual harassment pose a societal problem. Rather, serious people are debating how to adequately address these issues without compromising fairness to all involved.

Perspectives On Title Ix From A General Counsel's Office, Laurence Pendleton, Jeff Farrar

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2018 Symposium by Laurence Pendleton who serves as University Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Trustees at Tennessee State University and Jeff Farrar who serves as the Associate University Counsel for Middle Tennessee State University discussing the role of the Department of Education in providing recommendations and advice to universities and the role of an attorney in the general counsel's office in interacting with Title IX.

Prosecuting And Defending Campus Assaults: Practitioners' Perspectives, Victor (Torry) S. Johnson, Richard Mcgee

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2018 Symposium by Victor S. (Torry) Johnson former District Attorney General for Davidson County and current Visiting Professor of Law at Belmont University College of Law and Richard McGee a criminal defense lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee in the Public Defender’s Office giving a practitioner's perspective on prosecuting and defending campus assaults.

Criminal Law In Practice Series: Jury Selection, Rob Mcguire

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the Criminal Law in Practice Series by Rob McGuire who currently serves as Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and an adjunct professor at Belmont University College of Law speaking on Jury Selection.

Criminal Law In Practice Series: Appellate Procedure Panel, Leslie Price, Jeff Devasher

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the Criminal Law in Practice Series by Leslie Price with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office and Jeff DeVasher with the Nashville Public Defenders Office discussing some appellate law issues.

State Of Tennessee V. Antoine Perrier, Nickolas Bolduc, Dakota Dexter

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Student comments on the Tennessee Supreme Court decision “State of Tennessee v. Antoine Perrier”. The law now holds that the Tennessee legislature intended that the phrase “not engaged in unlawful activity” contained in the self-defense statute constitutes a condition on an individual’s privilege to not retreat prior to exercising self-defense. Next, the trial court now possesses the duty of determining whether a defendant was engaged in unlawful activity at the time of the alleged self-defense as to negate the applicable instruction. Those holdings are the newest additions to Tennessee law.

State Of Tennessee V. Sedrick Clayton, Amanda Gentry, Kendahl Shoemaker

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Student comments on the Tennessee Supreme Court decision “State of Tennessee v. Sedrick Clayton”. All defendants charged with crimes deserve a competent and rigorous defense because of the higher stakes in a criminal matter, the loss of liberty, and none more so than in a capital punishment case where the stakes for the defendant are at the highest—the loss of life. This case and the Court’s subsequent analysis illustrates the incredible importance of compliance with all procedural requirements when mounting a defense on behalf of a defendant, as the failure to comply with certain procedural rules ultimately resulted in the …

Anything You Spit Can Be Use Against You, Juliana Lamar

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Rap lyrics have a high probative value when the lyrics tend to show a defendant’s destructive behavior and confrontational mindset, but the use of this evidence can be highly prejudicial to criminal defendants. Studies have shown graphic evidence leads jurors to experience negative emotional states, and to analyze evidence in accordance with those feelings. This suggests that if a defendant’s profane and violent lyrics are presented before the jury, there is a strong likelihood the jury will react more to the words in the lyrics in characterizing the defendant, rather than the defendant’s case as a whole. To avoid the …

Structural Change In State Postconviction Review, Lee Kovarsky

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article's ultimate objectives are to diagnose, predict, and evaluate structural change in State PCR. Because claims and evidence necessary to enforce constitutional rights increasingly require a meaningful collateral forum, and because the federal collateral forum is so limited, State PCR is, for lack of a better term, the Last Man Standing. That status is not lost on the Supreme Court and lower federal judges, who are adapting available legal rules to try to improve the efficacy of collateral process in state court. And such adaptation does add to the bite of criminal-process rights, the underenforcement of which is perceived …

Why The Categorical Approach Should Not Be Used When Determining Whether An Offense Is A Crime Of Violence Under The Residual Clause Of 18 U.S.C. § 924 (C), Mary Frances Richardson

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

From The Editor-In-Chief, Dolores Sinistaj

Criminal Law Practitioner

No abstract provided.