Criminal Procedure Commons^™

How To Analyze The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony In A Criminal Case, Richard A. Wise, Clifford S. Fishman, Martin A. Safer

Scholarly Articles

This Article describes a method for analyzing the accuracy of eyewitness testimony that will significantly enhance the ability of the criminal justice system to assess eyewitness accuracy. The method consists of the following components: First, ascertain whether law enforcement conducted the eyewitness interviews in a manner that obtained the maximum amount of information from the eyewitness, did not contaminate the eyewitness's memory of the crime, or artificially increase the eyewitness's confidence. Next, determine whether the identification procedures in the case were fair and unbiased. Finally, evaluate what eyewitness factors during the crime are likely to have increased or decreased the …

Dna – Intimate Information Or Trash For Public Consumption?, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

“Surreptitious sampling” may be police officers’ trump card in cracking otherwise unsolvable crimes as serious as murder, arson and rape. Law enforcement officers engage in surreptitious sampling when they covertly collect DNAsamples from unsuspecting people, who inadvertently leave behind hair, skin cells, saliva or other biological materials.Surreptitious sampling is a terrific crime-resolution tool. It allows diligent law enforcement officers to collect proof-positive evidence of guilt or innocence without the hassle of obtaining a warrant and absent probable cause or reasonable suspicion to believe that the contributor of the biological evidence committed a crime. Provided an officer has the energy and …

A Return To The Grand Jury To Promote A Zen Zeal In Prosecutors, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

DNA evidence has freed at least 209 convicted people. Sometimes DNA evidence exonerates a person. Other times, it does not. When it does not exonerate, a prosecutor must decide whether to persist in further prosecution of the defendant. I propose a fresh, but simple, solution for prosecutors who face such choices. To protect the interests of defendants and victims, and to assuage society’s need for fair and accurate outcomes, prosecutors should represent these cases to a grand jury. The grand jury is an easily convened neutral party that can dispassionately evaluate the evidence, old and new, and determine whether a …

Finding A Happy And Ethical Medium Between A Prosecutor Who Believes The Defendant Didn't Do It And The Boss Who Says That He Did, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The increasing prevalence of DNA testing has proven that, at times, our criminal justice system renders wrongful convictions. Extrapolating from such significant errors, we can infer that smaller mistakes also occur. Because criminal prosecution is not an exact science, like DNA evidence, prosecutors can disagree about aspects of a case-whether to reward a cooperating defendant with a sentence reduction, whether to indict a defendant under a mandatory minimum statute, and even whether a defendant is guilty of a crime. This Essay examines the tension that arises when the prosecutor handling a case disagrees with her boss about one or more …

The Return Of Reasonableness: Saving The Fourth Amendment From The Supreme Court, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Although there is no recipe for defining Fourth Amendment reasonableness, the Supreme Court produces its most anomalous Fourth Amendment outcomes when it decides "mixed" questions of reasonableness, assessing issues that turn on how ordinary, prudent citizens think and behave. The Court treats these mixed issues, combinations of fact and law, as if they raise purely legal questions. But mixed issues are more complex and require someone to determine historical facts, apply those facts to principles of Fourth Amendment law, and consider the totality of the circumstances, including taking into account community and cultural influences. The Supreme Court will take its …

Prosecutors "Doing Justice" Through Osmosis—Reminders To Encourage A Culture Of Cooperation, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Cooperating defendants have proven to be necessary and valuable tools in preventing crime and prosecuting criminals. Federal prosecutors must exercise vigilance to thoughtfully decide how best to pursue the information cooperating defendants can provide. Such informed and good-faith judgment calls will inevitably require every prosecutor to weigh "the relative value or importance of different rights and interests and decide what, if any, action to take in response to a given tip. The DOJ and the ninety-three U.S. Attorneys can foster good decision-making by developing a culture of "doing justice" in which every prosecutor is encouraged.

Proceedings Of The Second International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, Sixtieth Anniversary Of The Genocide Convention: The Power Of A Word, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Introductory lecture to the Second Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted sixty years ago. The legacy of the Genocide Convention is inextricable from the legacy of Nuremberg and the legal work of the Nuremberg prosecutors, some of whom join us today. To this end, celebrating Nuremberg also means celebrating the Genocide Convention.

Defense Access To A Prosecution Witness’S Psychotherapy Or Counseling Records, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Revitalization Of Ake: A Capital Defendant’S Right To Expert Assistance, Cara H. Drinan

Scholarly Articles

Under Ake v. Oklahoma, indigent capital defendants are entitled to a wide array of expert assistance at both the conviction and sentencing phases of trial. Historically, the Ake entitlement has been under-utilized for both structural and normative reasons. However, today Ake is in the process of being revitalized. Recent Supreme Court decisions and the revised American Bar Association (ABA) Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases offer the hope that the theoretical entitlement of Ake will be fully realized. Moreover, if that occurs, one of two outcomes is likely to ensue at the state …

Offenses Involving Immigration, Naturalization And Passports: Model Sentencing Guidelines 211, 212, 213, 214, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

This article is part of the Model Sentencing Guidelines Working Group's project which is designed to develop a guidelines regime that would simplify the existing federal sentencing guidelines. Among the most frequently used guidelines in today's federal sentencing system are those pertaining to immigration offenses. Some of these guidelines are difficult and cumbersome to apply as the Commission asks courts to use too many sentencing factors, often without distinguishing them in importance. The proliferation of such factors has also restricted the power of federal courts to make their own decisions as to the severity of individual offenses. For that reason, …

The Price Of Pretrial Release: Can We Afford To Keep Our Fourth Amendment Rights?, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Fourth Amendment serves an important constitutional function. It protects the privacy of Americans from intrusions on their personal security. Few rights are held more sacred. When a person is arrested and faces the real likelihood of pretrial detention in jail, the person risks not only a reduction in his privacy rights, but also a loss of his liberty. In such circumstances, the arrested person should be able to bargain away some of his Fourth Amendment rights in exchange for the additional freedoms associated with release to home.

Undoubtedly, defendants forced to choose between incarceration and Fourth Amendment rights will …

In Booker'S Shadow: Restitution Forces A Second Debate On Honesty In Sentencing, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Supreme Court's January 2005 decision in Booker should induce Congress to enact legislation to remedy the constitutional invalidity of the MVRA and encourage the Department of Justice to revisit how restitution is charged, indicted, negotiated in plea agreements, proven at trial, and presented at sentencing hearings. The Booker decision is also a reminder to lower federal courts to adhere to the rule announced by the Supreme Court in Hughey v. United States, which limits the reach of orders of restitution. Congress, DOJ, and the federal courts should insist on candor in charging and sentencing to remedy the restitution …

Constitutional Challenges, Risk-Based Analysis And Criminal History Databases: More Demands On The U.S. Sentencing Commission, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

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Smart Public Policy: Replacing Imprisonment With Targeted Nonprison Sentences And Collateral Sanctions, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

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Since When Is Dicta Enough To Trump Fourth Amendment Rights? The Aftermath Of Florida V. J.L., Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Unfortunately for individual liberty, and the inestimable right to personal security, the Supreme Court's extraneous language in its otherwise, well-reasoned decision in Florida v. J.L., and the lower federal courts' interpretation of that extraneous language, have jeopardized the Constitutional right to be free from capricious stops and frivolous frisks, both of which necessarily intrude on the sanctity of the person and sometimes "inflict great indignity and arouse strong resentment . . . ." When read logically and narrowly, the J.L. decision holds that an anonymous telephone tip, alone, does not give law enforcement a sufficient legal basis to stop or …

Plea Bargaining At The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, Ralph Henham, Mark Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) increasingly has turned to plea bargains to resolve the cases before it. A number of factors motor this trend. One is administrative: the ICTY has been subject to considerable pressure from the United Nations Security Council and donor states to accelerate its work. Another is the desire to obtain acknowledgements of responsibility from perpetrators. Moreover, there is concern that, as time passes, the memories of witnesses dim. The rigours of direct and cross-examination may retraumatise those who have survived mass atrocity. ICTY judges also have expressed their understanding that guilty pleas …

The Ictr And Justice For Rwandan Women, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

In this article, I hope to spring from the discussion of the ICTR's gender jurisprudence to a broader conversation that touches on the relationship between this jurisprudence and life for Rwandan women today. In particular, I'd like to consider three questions: What do both the gender jurisprudence and the jurisprudence at large of the ICTR mean to women, individually and collectively, in Rwanda? How do other modalities of accountability that operate in postgenocide Rwanda respond to gender violence and promote gender equality? What is the situation of Rwandan women today?

Risk Assessment: Promises And Pitfalls, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

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'Lesser Evils' In The War On Terrorism, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Crawford V. Washington: The Supreme Court Opts For A New (Old?) Approach To The Confrontation Clause, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

How Many Terrorists Are There? The Escalation In So-Called Terrorism Prosecutions, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

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Toward A Criminology Of International Crime, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The criminal adjudication of those who perpetrate egregious human rights violations has gained normative currency among international lawyers and rights activists. This norm has encouraged the construction of a variety of international legal institutions, specifically tribunals and courts. This Article tracks the logic of this norm and suggests that, at its root, it represents a general extension of Western municipal criminal law, and Anglo-American common law methodologies in particular, to the international context and cases of mass violence. This triggers two interrelated concerns: is this extension (1) theoretically sustainable and (2) operationally effective for adjudicating wrongdoing in all cases of …

Non-Citizen Offenders And Immigration Crimes: New Challenges In The Federal System, Nora V. Demleitner, Jon M. Sands

Scholarly Articles

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Terrorist Crime, Taliban Guilt, Western Victims, And International Law, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

On September 11th, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States and killed approximately 3,000 civilians from 81 countries. Traditionally, international law treats armed attacks differently than criminal attacks. States launch armed attacks against other states; organized insurgency movements having some level of command or political structure also may launch internal armed attacks against state governments. Individuals or groups, on the other hand, initiate criminal attacks. The law responds to criminal attacks through investigation and trial. The law permits states to use force against other states in self-defense to armed attacks.The September 11th attack was a war-like attack undertaken against a …

Informant Credibility And Evidence Of Cooperation In Other Cases, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

The prosecutor calls an informant as a witness. Her carefully prepared questions elicit in damning detail how-according to the informant-the defendant eagerly participated in the crimes charged in the indictment. On cross, defense counsel goes into full attack mode, covering the informant's prior convictions, his other unsavory and untruthful acts, and the informant's sordid reasons for cooperating with the police-money, a break on his own case, or both. To rehabilitate the informant, the prosecutor wants to elicit testimony from police officers about the many cases the informant has helped them make and how truthful he has always been in the …

Restorative Justice And Collective Responsibility: Lessons For And From The Rwandan Genocide, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Genocide struck Rwanda in 1994. Since then, national and international trials have endeavored to promote reconciliation, deterrence, peace, justice, and human rights. This article posits a disconnect between these trials and the attainment of their avowed goals. This disconnect emerges in part from the influential agendas of international lawyers who equate selective criminal prosecution with the "rule of law" and espouse criminal prosecution as the preferred and uniform response to mass atrocity. Creating a presumption in favor of criminal prosecution has dampened the need to explore whether such trials actually are suitable for the particular afflicted society. A socio-legal analysis …

Appeals In The Ad Hoc International Criminal Tribunals: Structure, Procedure, And Recent Cases, Mark A. Drumbl, Kenneth S. Gallant

Scholarly Articles

Two international criminal tribunals are developing and remaking much of international humanitarian law—the law of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. These are the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”)and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“ICTR”).

For the first time, appellate practice and procedure have become vital to the development of international humanitarian law. These two ad hoc Tribunals have substantial appellate as well as trial jurisdiction. In this, they are quite different from their historic predecessors, the International Military Tribunals at Nuremberg and Tokyo following World War II, which had no appellate jurisdiction or appellate …

Juridical And Jurisdictional Disconnects, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Although extraterritorial trials for human rights abusers certainly achieve some justice, this Article posits -- through a case-study of post-genocide Rwanda -- that the effects of such trials are circumscribed by the fact they may have little meaning among perpetrators and victims in post-conflict societies. This limited meaning particularly attaches to trials conducted extraterritorially through international tribunals as well as trials conducted in foreign national courts through the exercise of what loosely is called "universal jurisdiction." This circumscribed meaning results in these trials' having limited deterrence effects, although they may go some way to satisfying the deontological need to punish …

Overlooked Areas Of Federal Sentencing: Federal Enclaves, Indian Country, Transfer Of U.S. Prisoners From Abroad, Nora V. Demleitner, Jon M. Sands

Scholarly Articles

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Stopping A Vicious Cycle: Release, Restrictions, Re-Offending, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

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