Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons^™

Discrimination In Sentencing On The Basis Of Afrocentric Features, William T. Pizzi, Irene V. Blair, Charles M. Judd

Publications

For a long time, social scientists have worried about possible racial discrimination in sentencing in the United States. With a prison population that exceeds two million inmates of whom approximately 48% are African American, the worry over the fairness of the sentencing process is understandable. This article is not about discrimination between racial categories as such, but about a related form of discrimination, namely, discrimination on the basis of a person's Afro-centric features. Section I of the article describes a line of social science research that shows that a person's Afro-centric features have a strong biasing effect on judgment such …

Saving Federal Sentencing Reform After Apprendi, Blakely And Booker, David Yellen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Neither Big Brother Nor Dead Brother: The Need For A New Fourth Amendment Standard Applying To Emerging Technologies, Casey Holland

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

11/9-9/11: The Brave New World Order: Peace Through Law - Beyond Power Politics Or Peace Through Empire - Rationale Strategy And Reasonable Policy, Harvey Rishikof, Patrick Bratton

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Difficult Times In Kentucky Corrections—Aftershocks Of A "Tough On Crime" Philosophy, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The objective of this article is to cast some light on corrections system problems brought on by elevated (and possibly unnecessary) levels of incarceration, and especially on problems that trouble the Kentucky corrections system and threaten to undermine the effectiveness of the state's justice system. Part II describes how the country came to embrace sentencing policies and practices capable of producing "a penal system of a severity unmatched in the Western world.” Part III describes Kentucky's embrace of equally harsh sentencing policies and practices and the inmate population explosion that has occurred as a direct result of those policies and …

Discrimination In Sentencing On The Basis Of Afrocentric Features, William T. Pizzi, Irene V. Blair, Charles M. Judd

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article does not challenge the prior research on sentencing discrimination between racial categories that found no significant difference in sentences given to similarly-situated African Americans and Whites. In fact, in the jurisdiction investigated- Florida- no discrimination between African Americans and Whites was found in the sentences imposed on defendants, looking only at racial category differences. Rather, the research suggests that in focusing exclusively on discrimination between racial groups, the research has missed a type of discrimination related to race that is taking place within racial categories: namely, discrimination on the basis of a person's Afrocentric features. By Afrocentric features, …

Racial Threat, Urban Conditions And Police Use Of Force: Assessing The Direct And Indirect Linkages Across Multiple Urban Areas, Karen F. Parker, John M. Macdonald, Wesley G. Jennings, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Faculty Publications

Traditionally explanations of police use of force have relied on a racial threat perspective. Tests of this perspective, however, typically offer a single indicator of threat (the relative size of the black population) and fail to adequately take into account the complex relationship between racial threat and police use of force. Drawing on racial threat, social disorganization, and police use of force literature, this study hypothesizes that macro-level patterns in police use of force are embedded in the racial and structural composition of cities and the organizational climate of local politics and police departments. The present study examines these relationships …

Constitutional Law—Fourth Amendment—Knock And Announce: The Ninth Circuit Knocks And The Supreme Court Announces A Re-Emphasis On The Case-By-Case Analysis.United States V. Banks, 540 U.S. 31 (2003), Erin Elizabeth Cassinelli

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chained To The Past: An Overview Of Criminal Expungement Law In Minnesota —State V. Schultz , Jon Geffen, Stefanie Letze

William Mitchell Law Review

This article explains Minnesota’s expungement law and analyzes a recent Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that limits the expungement remedy. Specifically, this article begins by examining the effects of a criminal record and the purposes of expungement.8 An expungement’s main purpose is to seal an individual’s criminal record from public view, thereby allowing the individual to fully reintegrate into society. This article then provides an overview of current expungement law and its history. This article also explains different types of criminal records and the different mechanisms used to seal each type of record. The focus of this article is on …

State V. Askerooth: Re-Applying The Terry Principle Of Reasonableness To Traffic Stops Under The Minnesota Constitution, Jodie Carlson

William Mitchell Law Review

This note first discusses the Minnesota Supreme Court’s use of the Minnesota Constitution to provide broader protections for its citizens in the area of Fourth Amendment search and seizure law. This note then explains the rationale for the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision in Askerooth. Finally, this note discusses the Atwater decision and whether it was necessary for the Minnesota Supreme Court to decide Askerooth under the state constitution.

The Executive's Scapegoat, The Court's Blind Eye? Immigrants' Rights After September 11, Hollis V. Pfitsch

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

"Can I See Your Papers?" Local Police Enforcement Of Federal Immigration Law Post 9/11 And Asian American Permanent Foreignness, Mohar Ray

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Exonerations In The United States 1989 Through 2003, Samuel R. Gross, Kriten Jacoby, Daniel J. Matheson, Nicholas Montgomery, Sujata Patil

Articles

On August 14, 1989, the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois, vacated Gary Dotson's 1979 rape conviction and dismissed the charges.1 Mr. Dotson-who had spent ten years in and out of prison and on parole for this conviction-was not the first innocent prisoner to be exonerated and released in America. But his case was a breakthrough nonetheless: he was the first who was cleared by DNA identification technology. It was the beginning of a revolution in the American criminal justice system. Until then, exonerations of falsely convicted defendants were seen as aberrational. Since 1989, these once-rare events have become …

Do Prisoners Get A Better Deal? Comparing The Abortion Rights And Access Of Military Women Stationed Abroad To Those Of Women In Prison, Leah Ginsberg

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the systemic barriers faced by military women and incarcerated individuals in accessing abortion services, despite Supreme Court rulings that establish a woman's right to abortion. It highlights how statutory bans, restrictive policies, and logistical challenges disproportionately affect these groups, arguing that their unique circumstances—such as overseas deployment or incarceration—subject them to additional layers of legal and practical obstacles. The analysis underscores the need for legislative or executive action to address these inequities and ensure constitutional rights are upheld.

Home Alone: Children Of Incarcerated Mothers In New York City Under The Rockefeller Drug Laws, Aron M. Zimmerman

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The Rockefeller Drug Laws of 1973, among the harshest in the nation, have failed to reduce drug trafficking or abuse and have instead led to unjust outcomes, disproportionately impacting racial minorities and women. These laws, which mandate draconian sentences based solely on drug type and quantity, tie judges' hands and prioritize incarceration over treatment, despite evidence that treatment is more cost-effective and reduces recidivism. Recent reforms offer some progress, but significant systemic changes are needed to address the laws' ongoing harm and restore judicial discretion in sentencing.

Taser Guns: A Safer Alternative For Police?, Felisha L. Thomas

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Says No Federal Guarantee Of Protection, Shauna Coleman

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

State Sentencing Policy And New Prison Admissions, Ben Trachtenberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

As the academy's focus has turned to sentencing in the wake of Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker, most commentators have continued their benign neglect of actual sentencing practices as they occur in state courts, not to mention whether and how such policies are effective in achieving the goals of criminal justice.

This Note examines trends in state sentencing policies and prison populations from the perspective of a would-be state reformer hoping to decrease her state's prison budget. Economic pressures, efficiency arguments, and social justice claims have combined to cause some states to desire lower prison populations, …

The Challenge Of Motive In The Criminal Law, Elaine M. Chiu

Faculty Publications

The purchase of illegal drugs by an undercover police officer is commonly known as a “buy and bust” operation. In the twenty-first century, the stakes in the longstanding war on drugs are high as law enforcement and national security agencies join forces to confront the disturbing ties between terrorism and illegal narcotics. In addition to being a weapon in the arsenal of law enforcement, the buy and bust operation also tells an interesting story about motive in the criminal law. This article uses the simple street sale to demonstrate how the criminal law suffers from its ambivalent attitude towards the …

Dangerous Criminals Or Dangerous Courts: Foreign Felonies As Predicate Offenses Under Section 922(G)(1) Of The Gun Control Act Of 1968, Aron J. Estaver

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

There is currently a split among U.S. Circuit Courts regarding 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), a provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that makes it a crime for any individual "who has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to possess or receive a firearm in interstate or foreign commerce or affecting interstate commerce." The U.S. Supreme Court will examine the split later this year when it hears the case of United States v. Small. The Author argues that the Supreme Court should determine that Section 922(g)(1) of the …

Law, Geography And Cyberspace: The Case Of On-Line Territorial Privacy, Daniel Benoliel

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Territorial privacy, one of the central categories of privacy protection, involves setting limit boundaries on intrusion into an explicit space or locale. Initially, the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which defined the privacy tort of intrusion as applied by courts, most notably designated two classes of excluded areas: "private" places in which the individual can expect to be free from intrusion, and "non-private" places, in which the individual does not have a recognized expectation of privacy. In the physical world, courts ultimately held, almost uniformly, that the tort of intrusion could not occur in a public place or in a place …

Why Restorative Justice Is Not Compulsory Compassion: Annalise Acorn's Labour Of Love Lost [A Review Of 'Compulsory Compassion: A Critique Of Restorative Justice,' Annalise E. Acorn (Vancouver: University Of British Columbia Press, 2004)], Bruce P. Archibald

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Annalise Acorn has produced an immensely engaging book about love, sexuality and law, written with verve and elan; however, it paints a hugely misleading picture of restorative justice that could be seriously damaging to what is arguably the most significant development in criminal justice since the emergence of the nation state. Restorative justice is changing the nature of criminal justice systems the world over. The Canadian criminal justice system is a leader in this regard, though it is far from being alone. Simplistic and dysfunctional systems of punitive criminal justice are being altered and supplemented by restorative programs that are …

How Earl Warren's Twenty-Two Years In Law Enforcement Affected His Work As Chief Justice, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Before becoming governor of California, Earl Warren had spent his entire legal career, twenty-two years, in law enforcement. Professor Kamisar maintains that this experience significantly influenced Warren's work as a Supreme Court justice and gave him a unique perspective into police interrogation and other police practices. This article discusses some of Warren's experiences in law enforcement and searches for evidence of that experience in Warren's opinions. For example, when Warren was head of the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, he and his deputies not only relied on confessions in many homicide cases but also themselves interrogated homicide suspects. The seeds …

Tangled Up In Khaki And Blue: Lethal And Non-Lethal Weapons In Recent Confrontations, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Too often, military and law enforcement authorities have found themselves constrained by inadequate weaponry: the tools available to them, in addressing confrontations with entrenched opponents of various sorts, are either too weak (not sufficing to disarm or defeat the enemy) or too strong (generating unacceptable "collateral damage" in harming innocent people or property). An emerging category of "non-lethal weapons" carries promise for resolving this dilemma, proffering deft new capabilities for disabling, dissuading, or defeating opponents without inflicting death or permanent injury.

Some primitive non-lethal weapons (such as truncheons, tear gas, and water cannon) have long been staples in the inventories …

Challenges To International Law Enforcement Cooperation For The United States In The Middle East And North Africa: Extradition And Its Alternatives, David P. Warner

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Reforming The Criminal Rap Sheet: Federal Timidity And The Traditional State Functions Doctrine, Mary De Ming Fan

Articles

For decades, criminal justice officials have based key decisions about a defendant's fate and crime deterrence on a tool deplored by practitioners for its indecipherability and potential for inaccuracy or incompleteness—the rap sheet. Though the Supreme Court's criminal rights evolution progressed late last year to requiring rigor in documenting penalty maximum-enhancing prior convictions, the problem of the rap sheet has received little notice from jurists and scholars because the rap sheet plays its central role in discretionary decision-making areas shielded from scrutiny.[para] The rap sheet is not just a practitioner's problem. The flawing of the rap sheet is a parable …

An Analysis Of The Nypd's Stop-And-Frisk Policy In The Context Of Claims Of Racial Bias, Andrew Gelman, Alex Kiss, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Recent studies by police departments and researchers confirm that police stop racial and ethnic minority citizens more often than whites, relative to their proportions in the population. However, it has been argued stop rates more accurately reflect rates of crimes committed by each ethnic group, or that stop rates reflect elevated rates in specific social areas such as neighborhoods or precincts. Most of the research on stop rates and police-citizen interactions has focused on traffic stops, and analyses of pedestrian stops are rare. In this paper, we analyze data from 175,000 pedestrian stops by the New York Police Department over …

The Story Of United States V. Salerno: The Constitutionality Of Regulatory Detention, Daniel C. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

Is it constitutional for the government to lock up people without waiting to convict them at trial? If it is, what are the limits on the government's power to lock up anyone it deems dangerous? These are issues raised by preventive detention provisions in bail statutes, and addressed in United States v. Salerno. The controversy about these bail statutes, once so hotly contested, has died down. But the broader questions about the government's power to detain suspected criminals without giving them the benefit of full criminal process remain unresolved, and have taken on a new urgency as the nation confronts …

Policing L.A.'S Skid Row: Crime And Real Estate Redevelopment In Downtown Los Angeles [An Experiment In Real Time], Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, I document the present. I make a record, with photographs, interviews, maps, and observations of L.A.'s Skid Row as it is today. Drawing on the tradition and methods of critical socio-legal studies, I also explore the constitutive dimensions of deviance. I investigate the possible attraction that disorderliness and criminality may have to today's urban pioneers. I explore the idea that deviance and disorder may become, in some corners, a consumable good to urban dwellers. And I do this by drawing on numerous hours of personal observation on the streets of L.A.'s Skid Row, on interviews of service …

Against Prediction: Sentencing, Policing, And Punishing In An Actuarial Age, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Actuarial methods – i.e., the use of statistical rather than clinical methods on large datasets of criminal offending rates to determine different levels of offending associated with one or more group traits, in order to (1) predict past, present or future criminal behavior and (2) administer a criminal justice outcome – now permeates the criminal law and its enforcement. With the single exception of racial profiling against African-Americans and Hispanics, most people view the turn to the actuarial as efficient, rational, and wealth-maximizing. The fact is, law enforcement agencies can detect more crime with the same resources if they investigate …