Criminal Law Commons^™

The Local Community Standard: Modernizing The Supreme Court's Obscenity Jurisprudence, Jacob S. Gordon

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Paper presentation on the Supreme Court's outdated case law on obscenity and how it needs to be modernized to in order to combat the dissemination of inappropriate materials in the age of decentralized digital media.

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Improving The Mental Health Tale In The Criminal Justice System, Meredith Bernal

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

Reexamining The Application Of Duress And Necessity Defenses To Prison Escape In The Context Of Covid19, Bill Clawges

JCLC Online

The classic example of the necessity defense involves a prisoner escaping from a burning prison. Surely, the law would not require them to stay in the prison when doing so would put their life at an immediate and grave risk. This example epitomizes the purpose of the necessity defense; society would rather the prisoner survive and leave prison than die ablaze while obeying the letter of the law. In recent years, the difference between the two justification defenses of necessity and duress has become blurred, especially in cases involving prison escape. Both are equally applicable, and both are relevant in …

To Certify Or Not To Certify? A Proposed Graduate Course And Universal Certification For Forensic Expert Witnesses, Charolette Caron

Criminology Student Work

During a court proceeding, attorneys will oftentimes bring up evidence related to their case. Since attorneys are usually not an expert in the field of evidence that they are discussing, they will bring in an expert witness. Expert witnesses are asked “. . . to testify in court when complex or specialized knowledge, beyond that of the lay person, is needed to interpret the evidence” (Wilcox & NicDaeid, 2018, p. 100). Forensic expert witnesses and their testimony, especially, are becoming increasingly important regarding accuracy and delivery. It’s been found that juries tend to rely heavily on forensic evidence when reaching …

Stated Culpability Requirements, Scott England

Faculty Scholarship

This Article comprehensively reviews the law of stated culpability requirements in Model Penal Code (MPC) jurisdictions. Part I provides an overview of section 2.02(4), explaining how the provision works and its role in the MPC’s culpability scheme. Part II then identifies section 2.02(4)’s main weaknesses, drawing on both the provision itself and the Code’s commentary. Next, Part III reviews the law in the twenty-five states with culpability provisions influenced by the MPC, identifying specific problems that section 2.02(4) has created in the case law. Finally, Part IV recommends new stated-culpability rules that improve section 2.02(4) and more rigorously enforce the …

What Makes My Client Guilty? Discussing The Processes, Effects, And Costs Of Wrongful Convictions, Shawn Page

Criminology Student Work

The basis of this paper will be to discuss my chosen career path following graduation. The career path that I will be exploring is that of an attorney. After I finish my athletic career, my next goal will be to enroll in law school and graduate in three years with my Juris Doctorate. My father is a partner at a law firm that handles many different cases, from malpractice allegations to criminal charges. My sister is also a public defender in Pittsburgh and represents individuals who can not afford to hire a private attorney. As a public defender you may …

Regulating Police Chokeholds, Trevor George Gardner, Esam Al-Shareffi

JCLC Online

This Article presents findings from an analysis of police chokehold policies enacted at the federal, state, and municipal levels of government. In addition to identifying the jurisdictions that restricted police chokeholds in the wake of George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, the Article conveys (via analysis of an original dataset) the considerable variance in the quality of police chokehold regulation. While many jurisdictions regulate the police chokehold, the strength of such regulations should not be taken for granted. Police chokehold policies vary by the type of chokehold barred (“air choke” and/or carotid choke), the degree of the chokehold restriction, …

Friends Without Benefits: Criminal Insider Trading Liability And The "Personal Benefit" Test After Blaszczak, Curtis A. French

JCLC Online

The U.S. Supreme Court established the “personal benefit” test in Dirks v. SEC to determine whether a tippee assumed a fiduciary duty to not trade based on or disclose inside information when a tipper breached his or her fiduciary duty by improperly disclosing such information to the tippee. Under the personal benefit test, a tipper breaches his or her fiduciary duty if the tipper derives a personal benefit, either directly or indirectly, from disclosing the inside information to a tippee. The Supreme Court provided examples as to what constitutes a personal benefit, such as the tipper’s expectation of reputational benefits …

The Saga Of Reginald Mcfadden—"Pennsylvania's Willie Horton" And The Commutation Of Life Sentences In The Commonwealth: Part Ii, Regina Austin

JCLC Online

The saga of the commutation of Reginald McFadden is a tortuous story of blunders, coincidences, and numerous instances of governmental officials tempting fate. It has the makings of a Serial true-crime podcast. In states throughout the country, there are lifers who are unfairly paying the price for the actions of one person who should never have had her or his life sentence commuted. This is the second in a series of two essays that explore Reginald McFadden’s commutation. This Part considers whether, in hindsight, there was any sound basis for McFadden’s release given the policy grounds for commutations and describes …

Losing Someone Then Losing Yourself: Helping Juveniles In The Justice System Experiencing Grief With A Trauma-Informed Pretrial Diversion Program, Sydney Ford

JCLC Online

Grief is something we all experience at some point in our lives. When a child experiences grief and loss, those emotions, if not addressed, can cause adverse effects. Many of our country’s detained youth have fallen victim to these effects because they have been unable to address the underlying grief that causes their behaviors. Because of this, this Article advocates for creating a trauma-informed pretrial diversion program focused on helping grieving youth. First, this Article examines the overwhelming number of grieving children in our juvenile justice system, and how their grief has led them to where they are today. Second, …

La Crisis Carcelaria En El Ecuador: Las Causas, Manifestaciones Y Algunas Recomendaciones, Ava Lausch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta monografía trata de la crisis carcelaria en Ecuador. Empieza con las causas multidimensionales de la crisis y las maneras en cómo se manifiesta. La próxima sección explica la narrativa del gobierno versus lo que realmente está haciendo y la política pública relacionada con el sistema penitenciario. La tercera sección tiene que ver con soluciones y recomendaciones por la crisis. Finalmente, hay una sección sobre la aplicación e importancia de la justicia restaurativa como una alternativa a la privación de la libertad. Para conseguir la información incluida, realice una revisión de fuentes secundarias e hice entrevistas con los varios funcionarios …

Portraits Of Bankruptcy Filers, Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, Deborah Thorne

Articles

One in ten adult Americans has turned to the consumer bankruptcy system for help. For almost forty years, the only systematic data collection about the people who file bankruptcy has come from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP), for which we serve as co-principal investigators. In this Article, we use CBP data from 2013 to 2019 to describe who is using the bankruptcy system, providing the first comprehensive overview of bankruptcy filers in thirty years. We use principal component analysis to leverage these data to identify distinct groups of people who file bankruptcy. This technique allows us to situate the distinctions …

Getting Gideon Right: Eligibility For Appointed Counsel In Texas Misdemeanor Cases, Andrew L.B. Davies, Blane Skiles, Pamela R. Metzger, Janelle Gursoy, Alex Romo

Deason Center Reports

In Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government must provide a criminal defense lawyer for any accused person who cannot afford one. But for too many people, Gideon's promise remains unfulfilled. In Texas, there are no statewide guidelines about who is entitled to a court-appointed lawyer. Instead, counties create their own rules that create serious gaps in constitutional protection. Getting Gideon Right investigates the financial standards that determine an accused person's eligibility for appointed counsel in Texas county courts. The report reveals a patchwork of county court policies that are both complex and severe.

What’S The Deference? Interpreting The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines After Kisor, Liam Murphy

Vanderbilt Law Review

For more than three decades, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines have constrained the punishment doled out by federal judges, limiting discretion that was once nearly unlimited and bringing standardization to the penological decisionmaking process. For twice as long, the Supreme Court has constrained judges in a different way—by requiring that administrative agencies receive deference when they interpret the meaning of their own regulations. At the convergence of these two domains sits “commentary,” or interpretive notes the U.S. Sentencing Commission appends to the otherwise congressionally approved Guidelines. In Stinson v. United States, the Court made clear that commentary should be reviewed and …

The Dignitary Confrontation Clause, Erin L. Sheley

Faculty Scholarship

For seventeen years, the Supreme Court’s Confrontation Clause jurisprudence has been confused and confusing. In Crawford v. Washington (2004), the Court overruled prior precedent and held that “testimonial” out-of-court statements could not be admitted at trial unless the defendant had an opportunity to cross-examine the declarant, even when the statement would be otherwise admissible as particularly reliable under an exception to the rule against hearsay. In a series of contradictory opinions over the next several years, the Court proceeded to expand and then seemingly roll back this holding, leading to widespread chaos in common types of cases, particularly those involving …

Embracing Crimmigration To Curtail Immigration Detention, Pedro Gerson

Faculty Scholarship

Immigration advocates have long objected to both the constitutionality and conditions of immigration detention. However, legal challenges to the practice have been largely unsuccessful due to immigration law’s “exceptionality.” Placing recent litigation carried out against immigration detention during the COVID-19 pandemic within the context of the judiciary’s approach to immigration, this Article argues that litigation is an extremely limited strategic avenue to curtail the use of immigration detention. I then argue that anti-immigration detention advocates should attempt to incorporate their agenda into criminal legal reform and decarceration efforts. This is important for both movements. Normatively, immigration detention raises comparable issues: …

Fostering Equity And Accountability In Georgia’S Criminal Legal System Through Conviction Integrity Reforms, E. Addison Gantt, Meagan R. Hurley

Mercer Law Review

An often-quoted excerpt from Berger v. United States sums up the role of a prosecutor in the criminal legal system. The context is the federal system, but it applies across the board. It begins by explaining the duty of a prosecutor: to represent the sovereign, “whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done.”2 Then, it turns to the real-world application of that role, instructing that prosecutors should present their cases with …

The Crime Of Sedition: At The Crossroads Of Reform And Resurgence, Adam M. Smith, Charlene Yim, Marryum Kahloon, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

The offense of “sedition” — often characterized as criminalizing the incitement of rebellion against the government — is an archaic crime that is frequently used to target political speech. Introduced in the sixteenth century in England specifically to suppress dissent, sedition laws spread through the British colonies. These laws still persist in some legal systems, and while there are reforms underway in some of those jurisdictions, in a few outliers, the offense continues to be prosecuted — and in some there has been a resurgence in cases.

Sedition laws have been criticized by the United Nations (“U.N.”), human rights experts, …

Socialist Republic Of Vietnam V. Pham Thi Doan Trang, David Mccraw, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

On the night of October 6, 2020, at the conclusion of a virtual human rights meeting between the governments of the United States of America and Vietnam, Vietnamese police arrested the journalist and human rights activist Pham Thi Doan Trang at her home in Hanoi. Ms. Trang was arrested and detained for allegedly “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam” — two of the most notorious of Vietnam’s fifteen national security offenses.

It would be a full year — during …