Criminal Law Commons^™

A Promise Unfulfilled: Challenges To Georgia’S Death Penalty Statute Post-Furman, William Cody Newsome

Georgia State University Law Review

In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Furman’s counsel. Three Justices agreed that Georgia law, as applied, was arbitrary and potentially discriminatory. Moreover, one Justice challenged the value of the death penalty and doubted it served any of the alleged purposes for which it was employed.

Although many challenges subsequent to Furman have been raised and arguably resolved by the Court, the underlying challenges raised by Furman appear to remain prevalent with the Court. Justice Breyer recently echoed the concurring opinions of Furman in his dissenting opinion from Glossip v. Gross, when he stated: “In …

Rwu First Amendment Blog: Andrew Horwitz's Blog: First Amendment Protects The Right To Give And To Receive 05-23-2017, Andrew Horwitz

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Masquerading Sanity: Crimes, Violence And Victimization On The Internet, Heath Grant, Cathryn Lavery

Publications and Research

The world of cybercrime has transformed significantly over the past ten or twenty years. Early concerns focused on the vulnerability of the financial industry, including the crimes of identity theft and hacking. However, in recent years, cybercrime has evolved to include crimes of harassment, child pornography, rape, “cyberterrorism” and even murder. This work examines an emerging form of violent crime involving the internet: Social Media Victim Targeting Networks (SVTN). The anonymity and limited available law enforcement on social media sites leaves predators with a large pool of vulnerable victims provide predators a new way to display and strengthen their criminological …

Theory For A Starving Obese, Ishai Shapira Kalter

Theses and Dissertations

Theory for a Starving Obese (2017) is both a book and an installation. During the years 2015-2017 I began writing Theory for a Starving Obese; a collection of essays and art criticism about exhibitions that took place in white cubes in New York. I was following my dissatisfaction, and hoped to delve deeper into the question “What is Contemporary Art?” At the end of a process, I sent seventeen envelopes to artists who exhibited solo shows in New York and whose works I have criticized. Each envelope consists of one digital drawing (שרבוט, pronounced Shirbut), DVD with the …

End Of Life Care For The Incarcerated, Codie Robinson

Dialogue & Nexus

As the prison population ages, a new need has come to light – caring for those who are in the final stage of life. This paper will examine the current end of life services provided to those in prison throughout the United States. After a general awareness of the system is presented, a more complete discussion of end of life care for prisoners will be considered, in light of ethics, social justice, and the Christian perspective. The two care options presented, hospice care and compassionate release, are observed through these lenses. In order to make a decision on how to …

Newsroom: As Manning Released, Trial Attorney Coombs Looks Back On Case, Looks Forward To Teaching Again At Rwu Law 05-17-2017, Edward Fitzpatrick

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

With Chelsea Manning's Release, Lead Trial Attorney Coombs Recalls Case: Rwu Law Professor David E. Coombs Revisits Issues In The Case, Looks Forward To Teaching Again Next Year 05-17-2017, Edward Fitzpatrick

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Combating Thieves Of Valor: The Stolen Valor Act Of 2013 Is Constitutional Yet Unenforced, Mary E. Johnston

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

An Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled To “An Expert Of His Own”, Fredrick E. Vars

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The Supreme Court recently heard the case of an Alabama death row inmate, James McWilliams. A thus far overlooked argument could save his life and help level the playing field in other capital cases. The Court in 1985 promised independent expertise. Now is its chance to make good on that promise.

Physical Match: Unique Fracture Patterns In Wooden Popsicle Sticks, Yiu Ming Sunny Lau

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Physical match (or physical fit) evidence was considered reliable in court for years, until the Daubert case, which required standardized scientific methodology on all forensic evidence. Physical matching faces the same criticism as other forms of physical evidence (specifically, that it lacks a scientific foundation). Physical matching is based on the idea that when an object is fractured, the shape of each fragment is unique and it is not possible to recreate a fragment that is identical to any other. In this study, fifty wooden popsicle sticks were broken in half, the pieces were mixed, and then reconstructed using physical …

A Comparative Approach To Counter-Terrorism Legislation And Legal Policy, Paul David Hill Jr

Senior Honors Theses

Since the 9/11 attacks, American legislation and legal policy in regards to classifying and processing captured terrorists has fallen short of being fully effective and lawful. Trial and error by the Bush and Obama administrations has uncovered two key lessons: (1) captured terrorists are not typical prisoners of war and thus their detainment must involve more legal scrutiny than the latter; and (2) captured terrorists are not ordinary criminals and thus the civilian criminal court system, due to constitutional constraints, is not capable of adequately trying every count of terrorism. Other nations, including France and Israel, approach this problem with …

Proportionality Skepticism In A Red State, Lauren Sudeall Lucas

Faculty Publications By Year

Commentary on Carol S. Steiker & Jordan M. Steiker, Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment (2016).

An Analysis Of The Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act: How A Once Promising Bill Became A Corporate Nightmare, Joshua Hill

Senior Theses

Through sensationalism, the mafia stereotype, and past commissions’ recommendations Congress enacted the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The Act itself was meant to eradicate organized crime while protecting legitimate businesses from their illegitimate counterparts. Unfortunately, the civil Act’s innate flaws have caused an overwhelming number of civil cases to flood the legal system, the majority of which have focused on private organizations and corporations, instead of Organized Crime (Pierson 2013). Civil RICO’s exploitation can be traced to its treble damages clause, – which was included in the Act to provide “an effective deterrent to further expansion of organized crime’s …

Stewart V. State, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 20 (May 4, 2017), Margarita Elias

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Before his interrogation, Tommy Laquade Stewart (“Stewart”) was given LVMPD’s Miranda warning pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona.[1] Stewart then agreed to speak with detectives without an attorney. He was subsequently charged and convicted of kidnapping and robbery. On appeal, Stewart argued that there was insufficient evidence to support the convictions and that the Miranda warning was legally insufficient. The Court disagreed and affirmed the district court’s judgment of conviction.

[1] 384 U.S. 436 (1966).

Capital Punishment In Georgia Research Guide, Zachary Moore

Law Library Student-Authored Works

No abstract provided.

Expungement, Defamation And False Light: Is What Happened Before What Really Happened Or Is There A Chance For A Second Act In America?, Doris Deltosto Brogan

Working Paper Series

Should an individual whose criminal record has been expunged have a cause of action for invasion of privacy, defamation or false light when a media outlet refuses to “unpublish” or correct the original report of her criminal charge? Outside of George Orwell’s world, can a fact that once existed be willed away by a court order, making the once-accurate report false, or “constructively false” and so give rise to a cause of action?

The impact of being swept into the vortex of the criminal justice system, even if as the result of only a minor charge, and even if that …

Criminal Prosecution For Environmental Lawbreakers: A Statute With No Bite, Christiana M. Russo

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Comment: Prison For You. Profit For Me. Systemic Racism Effectively Bars Blacks From Participation In Newly-Legal Marijuana Industry, Elizabeth Danquah-Brobby

University of Baltimore Law Review

Historically, blacks have been prosecuted and convicted across the United States at significantly higher rates when compared to whites for marijuana-related crimes, despite the fact that studies indicate marijuana use by whites and blacks is relatively equal. Further, individuals with lower economic means were dually susceptible to conviction as a result of less vigorous legal representation.

Now, laws have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes in twenty-six states, along with a small portion of states (seven) legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Yet retroactive ameliorative relief is not widely available to those who were convicted under circumstances that are now legal, and …

Comment: Solving The Depraved Heart Murder Problem In Maryland: A Suggestion For Successful Prosecution Of Police Officers, Rachele Norfolk

University of Baltimore Law Review

Currently, there is no statutory framework for depraved heart murder in Maryland. Additionally, there is a problem with prosecuting this specific kind of murder because Maryland’s common law provides very vague and somewhat flimsy guidance. While prosecuting police officers may prove to be a challenging feat itself, it may be even harder when an officer fails to follow certain procedures or act in certain ways through “acts of omission.”

This Comment will proceed in four parts following this introduction. Part II will provide background information on the Freddie Gray case and the common law in Maryland on depraved

heart murder …

Veterans Banished: The Fight To Bring Them Home, Alejandra Martinez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Immigrating While Trans: The Disproportionate Impact Of The Prostitution Ground Of Inadmissibility And Other Provisions Of The Immigration And Nationality Act On Transgender Women, Luis Medina

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

The Unconstitutional Application Of Apprehension And Detention Laws: Section 236(C) Of The Immigration And Nationality Act, Rigoberto Ledesma

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Punishment Without Purpose: The Retributive And Utilitarian Failures Of The Child Pornography Non-Production Sentencing Guidelines, Brittany Lowe

Cleveland State Law Review

Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Congress established the U.S. Sentencing Commission to formulate an empirical set of federal sentencing Guidelines. With the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Congress intended to further the basic purposes of criminal punishment—deterrence, incapacitation, just punishment, and rehabilitation. Nevertheless, the Guidelines were instantaneously met with disapproval. Asserting that the mandatory Guidelines violated the Constitution, scholars and judges argued that the Commission usurped Congress’s role by prescribing punishments that were essentially binding law. In 2005, the Supreme Court held that the Guidelines were discretionary in United States v. Booker.

While this decision resolved many of …

The Prophylactic Fifth Amendment, Tracey Maclin

Faculty Scholarship

Before Miranda was decided, the Court had not squarely confronted the issue of when a violation of the Fifth Amendment occurs. Over fifty years ago, the Court acknowledged that the right against self-incrimination has two interrelated facets: The Government may not use compulsion to elicit self-incriminating statements; and the Government may not permit the use in a criminal trial of self-incriminating statements elicited by compulsion. Back then, the “conceptual difficulty of pinpointing” when a constitutional violation occurs — when the Government employs compulsion, or when the compelled statement is actually admitted at trial — was unimportant. Chavez v. Martinez forced …

Methamphetamine, Money, And A Motion To Withdraw As Counsel: United States V. Jimenez-Antunez All Boils Down To The Appropriate Standard-, Jessica Haygood

Mercer Law Review

In United States v. Jimenez-Antunez, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a defendant is not required to show good cause to dismiss his retained counsel, even if the defendant then intends to request appointed counsel. The issue was one of first impression in the Eleventh Circuit, and one that has caused some disagreement between the other circuits. There are distinct differences between the right to appointed counsel and the right to retained counsel under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This case continues to uphold those distinctions by keeping the standards …

Making Sex Work For The State : The Policing Of Sex Work In The United States., Madeline A Clabough

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the ways that sex work is regulated within the United States, and analyze the ways that regulation is shaped by contemporary feminist discourse. To do so, it analyzes the ways in which sex workers have been and pathologized since the 19th century, and address the ways that these conceptualizations have been incorporated into the legal regulation of sex workers. Finally, this thesis will look to contemporary practices in the state regulation of sex workers, and argue that the relationship between neoliberalism, the carceral state, and what has come to be termed “carceral feminism” operate in conjunction to …

Moral Crimes Post-Mellouli: Making A Case For Eliminating State-Based Prostitution Convictions As A Basis For Inadmissibility In Immigration Proceedings, Kerry Q. Battenfeld

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

المسئولية الجزائية للأحداث الجانحين والمشردين, محمد فهد عبد العزيز الحكمي

Theses

States are renowned for paying great attention when dealing with children and taking into consideration the age and the occasion under which the occurrence of the crime with the reason being in relation to the consideration with the implementation of in treatment as an alternative to punishment. As per the law of Act 9 of Juvenile Delinquents and Vagrants for the year 1976, whereby the specific age of and when criminal responsibility or eliminations attached are in accordance with and comparative to UAE legislation. Developments in legislation in relation to the criminal responsibility for delinquent children. Disciplined measures that lay …

Dream Variations: Fictional Views Of The School To Prison Pipeline, Kierstin R. C. Anderson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

These two works of fiction will tell the story of the school to prison pipeline taken from the black and white of statistics and numbers into the colors of the individual; their thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Dream Variations is the telling of one instance in the lives of different people, both the Black American youth who go through it and the lawyers who see their cases.

"Plausible Cause": Explanatory Standards In The Age Of Powerful Machines, Kiel Brennan-Marquez

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much scholarship in law and political science has long understood the U.S. Supreme Court to be the "apex" court in the federal judicial system, and so to relate hierarchically to "lower" federal courts. On that top-down view, exemplified by the work of Alexander Bickel and many subsequent scholars, the Court is the principal, and lower federal courts are its faithful agents. Other scholarship takes a bottom-up approach, viewing lower federal courts as faithless agents or analyzing the "percolation" of issues in those courts before the Court decides. This Article identifies circumstances in which the relationship between the Court and other …