Criminal Procedure Commons^™

Redefining The Right To Be Let Alone: Privacy Rights And The Constitutionality Of Technical Surveillance Measures In Germany And The United States, Nicole E. Jacoby

ExpressO

U.S. and German courts alike long have struggled to find the proper balance between protecting the privacy rights of criminal suspects and granting law enforcement officials the adequate tools to fight crime. The highest courts in each country have produced different paradigms for determining where the public sphere ends and the private sphere begins. In a series of cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has inquired whether a criminal defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy when the state conducted a warrantless search of the suspect’s person, premises, or belongings. Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, in contrast, has asked whether an investigative …

American Military Justice And International Criminal Court Complementarity: The Case Of Ucmj Article 60, Allen J. Dickerson

ExpressO

Although the American military is effectively one of the most potent of international institutions, discussions of its regulation have been oddly domestic. The court-martial – the single most important institution for disciplining military forces, preventing atrocities and punishing offenders – has seen its jurisdiction and procedures hotly debated, but most often by those in uniform or individuals interested in domestic military policy. This paper aims to internationalize the discussion, recognizing that the discipline of American military forces is of major concern to both international law and U.S. foreign policy. By exploring the interaction between a major innovation in international law …

Looting, Law, And Lawlessness, Stuart Green

ExpressO

As recent incidents in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and other natural and man-made disasters have illustrated, the moral content of looting spans an extraordinarily wide continuum: At one end are predatory and exploitative acts that seem deserving of even greater punishment than ordinary acts of burglary and larceny. At the other end are cases of necessity, involving otherwise law-abiding citizens who, as a result of forces beyond their control, find themselves hungry and exposed to the elements. In between these two poles lies a wide range of conduct that often involves impoverished and alienated citizens living on the edges …

Malibu Locals Only: "Boys Will Be Boys", Or Dangerous Street Gang? Why The Criminal Justice System's Failure To Properly Identify Suburban Gangs Hurts Efforts At Fighting Gangs, Brian William Ludeke

ExpressO

In the last several years, a group of youths calling themselves Malibu Locals Only or MLO has performed several violent crimes, intimidating many people in the area around Malibu, CA. Despite the gang-like appearance of these youths and their crimes, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials insist that MLO is not a gang. This article examines MLO, its history, and its current state in the context of California anti-gang legislation.

The article theorizes that the criminal justice system's failure to call a group like MLO a gang while waging war on other groups, primarily in lower income, heavily minority areas, …

The Place Of Covert Policing In Democratic Societies: An Empirical Study Of The U.S. And Germany, Jacqueline E. Ross

ExpressO

My study of undercover policing explores the ways in which democratic legal systems change when they legalize highly contested police practices that have long been quietly tolerated and accorded minimal scrutiny. Undercover policing is a prime of example of such a practice. It has long been subject to remarkably little legislative oversight and systematic regulation in the United States and Western Europe. It exists in a twilight of legality—a necessary evil, but one inviting anxieties about its legitimacy and consonance with the rule of law. Under pressure from the European Court of Human Rights, Germany (along with other Western European …

Write On!, Steven L. Chanenson

Working Paper Series

Modern federal appellate review of sentences is a recent phenomenon introduced by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Before United States v. Booker, courts of appeal focused on enforcing the technical rules of the federal sentencing guidelines and did so with (over)zealous enthusiasm. In the new post-Booker world, appellate judges are supposed to review sentences for "reasonableness." But how are they supposed to determine what is - or is not - a reasonable sentence? The answer to this puzzle rests in the mind of the District Judge. This short essay argues that the sentencing judge must explain his reasons, and …

Civil Commitment Of Sexually Violent Predators: The Search For A Limiting Principle, Aman Ahluwalia

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article challenges the legal and empirical justifications for civil commitment of sexually violent predators, arguing that current standards, such as mental abnormality and lack of control, are overly broad and lack robust empirical support. It contends that recidivism rates for sex offenders are not significantly higher than those of other offenders, undermining the rationale for civil commitment. The analysis advocates for a more nuanced approach to incapacitation, emphasizing criminal law solutions over medicalized commitments.

Reconciling The Booker Conflict: A Substantive Sixth Amendment In A Real Offense Sentencing System, Bertrall L. Ross Ii

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article examines the tension between the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and real offense sentencing, arguing that this conflict is not inevitable and can be reconciled. It advocates for a system where the jury plays a substantive role in checking judicial discretion during sentencing, ensuring constitutional protections while allowing judges to individualize sentences based on real offense factors. The proposed framework moves beyond the separation of functions model, integrating the jury into sentencing decisions to balance retributive punishment with constitutional safeguards.

Forgetting Freud: The Courts' Fear Of The Subconscious In Date Rape (And Other) Criminal Cases, Andrew E. Taslitz

ExpressO

Courts too often show a reluctance to learn the lessons taught by social science in criminal cases, especially where subconcious processes are involved. The subconscious is seen as rarely relevant and, in the unusual cases where it is relevant, it is viewed as a disease commandeering the conscious mind and thus helping to exculpate the accused. Drawing on the example of forensic linguistics in date rape cases as illustrative of a broader phenomenon, this article argues that the courts' misuse of social science stems from fear and misunderstanding of the workings of the subconscious mind. Accordingly, the piece contrasts the …

Suspicionless Canine Sniffs: Does The Fourth Amendment Prohibit Public Schools From Using Dogs To Search Students Without Individualized Suspicion?, Todd J. Feinberg

ExpressO

Drugs plague our nation’s schools. Since traditional methods of fighting the problem are proving ineffective, some schools are trying new approaches. One such approach is using specially trained dogs to indiscriminately sniff students for the presence of illegal drugs. Using dogs to sniff students is controversial and has sparked a constitutional debate. The Supreme Court has not expressly ruled on whether suspicionless canine sniffs violate a public school student’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. In fact, the Court has acted in a manner that actually increases uncertainty around the issue. This uncertainty makes employing suspicionless canine sniffs difficult for …

Establishing A Precedent In Uganda: The Legitimacy Of National Amnesties Under The Icc, Robin B. Murphy

ExpressO

After 14 years of unconscionable wrath against local civilians, including enforced recruitment of thousands of child soldiers, the rebel group The Lord’s Resistance Army (“LRA”) was offered amnesty by the Ugandan government in 2000. However, as the conflict continued unabated, the Ugandan government, for the first time in the history of the Court, referred its case to the International Criminal Court (“ICC”). The ICC Prosecutor announced the beginning of an investigation and issued warrants for seven top LRA officers in October of 2005. The potential ICC prosecution raises many questions about the jurisdiction of the new court, including whether the …

Vengeance, Forgivness, Resentment, Jurisprudence, Dispute Resolution, Theodore Y. Blumoff

ExpressO

Vengeance is generally accompanied by the moral emotion of resentment and indignation, which are also natural psychological reactions. We can and do give these emotions cognitive content, inasmuch as they have developed and matured over time with culture, but they are primitive. They arise when an individual suffers a non-trivial injury that was inflicted without excuse or justification. Among other injuries suffered, the harm done discounts the value we hold of ourselves as human beings, so that when this discounting (the crime or a substantial tort) occurs and we react defensively; our worth as an individual feels threatened. We hope …

'Tis A Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform Of The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

This essay introducing the June 2006 edition of the Federal Sentencing Reporter (Vol. 18, No. 5) describes two important contributions to the movement for real reform of the federal sentencing system. First, Professor Bowman summarizes the recommendations of the Constitution Project Sentencing Initiative (CPSI) report on federal sentencing. The CPSI report, reproduced in this Issue, cautions against any over-hasty legislative response to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, suggests some near-term improvements to the existing federal sentencing system, and then sets out a framework for a reformed and markedly simplified federal sentencing regime. Second, Professor Bowman describes …

The Silent Criminal Defendant And The Presumption Of Innocence: In The Hands Of Real Jurors, Is Either Of Them Safe, Mitchell J. Frank, Dawn Broschard

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines Project: Departures, Model Sentencing Guidelines §5.1, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

This Article is the twelfth of twelve parts of a set of Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines designed to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of a simplified approach to federal sentencing proposed by the Constitution Project Sentencing Initiative. The Model Sentencing Guidelines and the Constitution Project report are all to be published in Volume 18, Number 5 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. The project is described in an essay titled 'Tis a Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, available on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/abstract=927929. This segment of the project contains rules governing the imposition of sentences …

Wishing Petitioners To Death: Factual Misrepresentations In Fourth Circuit Capital Cases, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Desert, Democracy, And Sentencing Reform, Alice Ristroph

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

The “Csi Effect”: Better Jurors Through Television And Science?, Michael D. Mann

ExpressO

This Comment discusses how television shows such as CSI and Law & Order create heightened juror expectations. This will be published in the Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal's 2005-2006 issue.

An Essay On Vengeance And Forgiveness, Theodore Y. Blumoff

ExpressO

Vengeance is generally accompanied by the moral emotion of resentment and indignation, which are also natural psychological reactions. We can and do give these emotions cognitive content, inasmuch as they have developed and matured over time with culture, but they are primitive. They arise when an individual suffers a non-trivial injury that was inflicted without excuse or justification. Among other injuries suffered, the harm done discounts the value we hold of ourselves as human beings, so that when this discounting (the crime or a substantial tort) occurs and we react defensively; our worth as an individual feels threatened. We hope …

Reasonable Expectations Of Privacy And Novel Search Technologies: An Economic Approach, Steven Penney

ExpressO

The “reasonable expectation of privacy” test, which defines the scope of constitutional protection from governmental privacy intrusions in both the United States and Canada, is notoriously indeterminate. This indeterminacy stems in large measure from the tendency of judges to think of privacy in non-instrumentalist terms. This “moral” approach to privacy is normatively questionable, and it does a poor job of identifying the circumstances in which privacy should prevail over countervailing interests, such as the deterrence of crime.

In this paper, I develop an alternative, economically-informed approach to the reasonable expectation of privacy test. In contrast to the moral approach, which …

Mixed Messages: The Supreme Court’S Conflicting Decisions On Juries In Death Penalty Cases, Ken Miller, David Niven

ExpressO

The right to a jury determination of a capital defendant's fate has expanded recently. The era of judges making factual determinations then determining whether to apply a death sentence or judges having the power to overrule a jury's life sentence to impose death is over. The expanded right to access a jury and have it hold determinative power over a defendant's life has not, however, been accompanied by commensurate attention to the instructions that guide those jurors through the applicable law toward their verdict. Nor have adequate procedures been designed to produce a truly representative jury panel. In brief, the …

Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder And Suicide? A Review Of International Evidence, Don B. Kates, Gary A. Mauser

ExpressO

The world abounds in instruments with which people can kill each other. Is the widespread availability of one of these instruments, firearms, a crucial determinant of the incidence of murder? Or do patterns of murder and/or violent crime reflect basic socio-economic and/or cultural factors to which the mere availability of one particular form of weaponry is irrelevant?

This article examines a broad range of international data that bear on two distinct but interrelated questions: first, whether widespread firearm access is an important contributing factor in murder and/or suicide, and second, whether the introduction of laws that restrict general access to …

An Integrated Perspective On The Collateral Consequences Of Criminal Convictions And Reentry Issues Faced By Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Michael Pinard

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the emergent focus on the collateral consequences of criminal convictions and the reentry of formerly incarcerated individuals. Specifically, the article details the ways in which legal scholars, policy analysts, elected officials, legal services organizations and community based organizations have begun to address these components of the criminal justice system. The article argues that these various groups have compartmentalized collateral consequences and reentry by focusing almost exclusively on one component to the exclusion of the other. In doing so, they have narrowed the lens through which to view these components, and have therefore missed opportunities to develop integrated …

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, …

To Charge Or Not To Charge, That Is Discretion: The Problem Of Prosecutorial Discretion In Chile, And Japan's Solution, Kirtland C. Marsh

Washington International Law Journal

Chile’s recent criminal procedure reform is an ambitious program to bring greater transparency, fairness, and effectiveness to the country’s legal system. However, the success of the reform is not assured. To a great extent, the reform’s success will depend on the new national Office of the Public Prosecutor’s ability to enforce laws and direct law enforcement within the confines of the new system. Prosecutors must balance the interests of the Chilean public’s demands for order and convictions with the reform’s underlying principles of impartiality and enhanced rights for defendants. If prosecutors resort to the excesses used by investigating judges under …

The Democratic Prosecutor: Explaining The Constitutional Function Of The Federal Grand Jury, Niki Kuckes

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Decision Maker Matters: An Empirical Examination Of The Way The Role Of The Judge And The Jury Influence Death Penalty Decision-Making, William J. Bowers, Wanda D. Foglia, Jean E. Giles, Michael E. Antonio

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Political Market For Criminal Justice, Rachel E. Barkow

Michigan Law Review

In 2004, the number of individuals incarcerated in the United States exceeded the two million mark. The current incarceration rate in the United States is 726 per 100,000 residents, the highest incarceration rate in the Western world and a dramatic increase from just three decades ago. Not only are more people serving time, but sentences have markedly lengthened. What should we make of these trends? The answer has been easy for most legal scholars: to them, the incarceration rate in the United States is too high, and reforms are necessary to lower sentences. But many political leaders and voters reach …

Crime, Criminals, And Competitive Crime Control, Wayne A. Logan

Michigan Law Review

Given the negative consequences of crime, it should come as no surprise that states will endeavor to make their dominions less hospitable to potential criminal actors. This predisposition, when played out on a national stage, would appear ripe for a dynamic in which states will seek to "out-tough" one another, leading to a spiral of detrimental competitiveness. Doran Teichman, in an article recently appearing in these pages, advances just such a view. Teichman posits that the decentralized structure of America's federalist system provides states with "an incentive to increasingly harshen" their crime control efforts, with the net result being excessive …