Criminal Law Commons^™

Project Safe Neighborhoods In Chicago: Looking Back A Decade Later, Ben Grunwald, Andrew V. Papachristos

Faculty Scholarship

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a federally funded initiative that brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce gun violence in urban centers. In Chicago, PSN implemented supply-side gun policing tactics, enhanced federal prosecution of gun crimes, and notification forums warning offenders of PSN’s heightened criminal sanctions. Prior evaluations provide evidence that PSN initiatives have reduced crime in the first few years of their operation. But over a decade after the program was established, we still know little about whether these effects are sustained over an extended period of time. This Article examines PSN Chicago, an anti-violence program …

Plea Bargaining, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This report on plea bargaining was written for the "Academy for Justice," a collaborative research project whose goal is "to inspire and guide reform in the federal and state systems, and to fortify these efforts with the research and analysis of top academic experts."

Plea bargaining dominates the criminal process in the United States today, yet it remains highly controversial. Supporters defend it on the grounds that it expedites cases, reduces processing costs, and helps authorities obtain cooperation from defendants. But critics contend that it can generate arbitrary sentencing disparities, obscure the true facts, and even lead innocent defendants to …

The Potential Utility Of Disciplinary Regulation As A Remedy For Abuses Of Prosecutorial Discretion, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

This Essay is part of a larger project exploring the possibility that, contrary to much of the prevailing scholarship, judicial supervision of the prosecutor’s charging decision—through both expansive judicial interpretation of current ethics rules and judicial enactment and enforcement of more extensive ethics rules—might serve as a viable and effective mechanism for meaningful review and regulation.

In a forthcoming article, Bruce Green and I identify and respond to some of the reasons scholars have generally steered clear of considering the option that judges might play a more robust role in supervising prosecutors’ charging discretion by implementing enhanced disciplinary rules addressing …

The Criminalization Of Walking, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

The simple act of walking is sometimes criminalized in the United States. Anti-jaywalking statutes and ordinances—originally motivated by auto-industry lobbyists in the 1920s—call for fines and, sometimes, imprisonment for crossing the street. Additionally, some localities have interpreted statutes against “child neglect” to encompass a parent’s decision to let their kid walk outside alone. The result of this criminalization? Such policies have reduced pedestrian liberty, increased automobile traffic and pollution, and created a disincentive for physical activity in the midst of an obesity and diabetes epidemic. In addition to discussing these effects, this Article argues that the purported safety benefits of …

The Ahistoricism Of Legal Pluralism In International Criminal Law, James G. Stewart, Asad Kiyani

All Faculty Publications

International criminal law (“ICL”) is legally plural, not a single unified body of norms. As a whole, trials for international crimes involve a complex dance between international and domestic criminal law, the specificities of which vary markedly from one forum to the next. To date, many excellent scholars have suggested that the resulting doctrinal diversity in ICL should be tolerated and managed under the banner of Legal Pluralism. To our minds, these scholars omit a piece of the puzzle that has major implications for their theory – the law’s history. Neglecting the historical context of the international and national criminal …

Henry V. British Columbia: Still Seeking A Just Approach To Damages For Wrongful Conviction, Emma Cunliffe

All Faculty Publications

Henry v. British Columbia (Attorney General) was the first case in which a claimant sought damages under section 24(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for breaches of rights that led to a wrongful conviction and imprisonment. In its 2015 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the criteria for the award and quantum of such damages. In June 2016, Hinkson C.J.S.C. awarded $8,086,691.80 in damages to Ivan Henry in compensation, special damages and “to serve both the vindication and deterrence functions of s. 24(1) of the Charter”.

In this article, I describe the events that led to …

Illicit Exploitation Of Natural Resources - Art. 28l Bis Of The Malabo Protocol, James G. Stewart, Daniëlla Dam

All Faculty Publications

Article 28A(1)(13) of the Protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights lists ‘Illicit exploitation of natural resources’ as a criminal offense within the Court’s jurisdiction. In conjunction with the new mandate of the African Court, which includes the exercise of jurisdiction over corporations for the first time in an international treaty, the prohibition of “illicit exploitation of natural resources” creates an offense with especially sharp teeth, for business people, their corporations, military actors and politicians. The crime constitutes an important innovation in international law, since it offers a distinct legal basis for prosecution of …

Equality And The Defence Of Provocation: Irreconcilable Differences, Isabel Grant, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

Recent amendments to the defence of provocation have limited access to the defence to those who are provoked by conduct that, if prosecuted, would have been an indictable offence punishable by at least five years imprisonment. The paper argues that these amendments are both over- and under-inclusive and fail to confront the central problem surrounding provocation which is that it privileges loss-of-control rage often in the context of male violence against women or in response to same-sex advances. The paper supports the abolition of the defence of provocation but only if mandatory minimum sentences for murder are abolished providing trial …

Constructing Recidivism Risk, Jessica M. Eaglin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Courts increasingly use actuarial meaning statistically derived information about a defendant's likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior in the future at sentencing. This Article examines how developers construct the tools that predict recidivism risk. It exposes the numerous choices that developers make during tool construction with serious consequences to sentencing law and policy. These design decisions require normative judgments concerning accuracy, equality, and the purpose of punishment. Whether and how to address these concerns reflects societal values about the administration of criminal justice more broadly. Currently, developers make these choices in the absence of law, even as they face distinct …

Trans-Lating The Eighth Amendment Standard: The First Circuit's Denial Of A Transgender Prisoner's Constitutional Right To Medical Treatment, Bethany L. Edmondson

Georgia Law Review

In December of 2014, the First Circuit Court of Appeals
held, en banc, that the Massachusetts Department of
Corrections was not constitutionally obligated to provide
Michelle Kosilek, a transgender prisoner, with sexual
reassignment surgery. Kosilek sued the prison, arguing
that her Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and
unusual punishment were violated. The First Circuit held
that Kosilek did not have a serious medical need, due to
the prison's alternative treatment, and that the prison was
not deliberately indifferent to that need. This Note argues
that the First Circuit erred in applying the "serious
medical need" prong of the cruel and …

An Aggravating Adolescence: An Analysis Of Juvenile Convictions As Statutory Aggravators In Capital Cases, Lesley A. O'Neill

Georgia Law Review

In death penalty cases there is a requirement that
certain statutory aggravators must be present in order to
reach a death verdict. One such statutory aggravator in
most states is the defendant having previously committed
a felony, which can include crimes committed as a
juvenile. While the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that
sentencing a defendant to death for crimes they committed
as a juvenile is unconstitutional, many states' death
penalty statutes allow for the possibility that the sole
aggravator relied on for a verdict of death is a previous
juvenile conviction. This Note argues that based on the
Court's …

Colorado's About Face: Mechanics, Progress, And Challenges Facing Veterans Trauma Courts In Colorado, Karthik A. Venkatraj

University of Colorado Law Review

The nature of asymmetrical warfare-defined by improvised explosive devices, indirect fire attacks, and suicide attackshas significantly altered the patterns of post-service challenges faced by veterans. Dealing with the unseen wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) that result from this type of combat has been one of the most difficult leadership challenges of my career as a young officer.

Although our nation's medical response to PTSD and TBI is well documented, the judicial challenges are not as apparent. Most recently, our nation has responded to this challenge with an alternative court, the Veterans Trauma Court (VTC), …

Fighting Fines & Fees: Borrowing From Consumer Law To Combat Criminal Justice Debt Abuses, Neil L. Sobol

University of Colorado Law Review

Although media and academic sources often describe mass incarceration as the primary challenge facing the American criminal justice system, the imposition of criminal justice debt may be a more pervasive problem. On March 14, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that state chief justices forward a letter to all judges in their jurisdictions describing the constitutional violations associated with the illegal assessment and enforcement of fines and fees. The DOJ's concerns include the incarceration of indigent individuals without determining whether the failure to pay is willful and the use of bail practices that result in impoverished defendants remaining in …

Leavitt V. State, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 83 (Dec. 29, 2016) (Per Curiam), Brent Resh

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court expressly repudiated the Ninth Circuit’s interpretation of Nevada law in Riley v. McDaniel and therefore found that Riley cannot serve as the basis for an argument that good cause exists to overcome a procedural default in filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Contemporary Soviet Criminal Law: An Analysis Of The General Principles And Major Institutions Of Post-1958 Soviet Criminal Law, Chris Osakwe

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Fighting Back Against Revenge Porn: A Legislative Solution, Alex Jacobs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Segregation Or Integration: Exploring The Interprofessional Collaboration Of The Sexual Assault Response Team-A Pilot Study, Phyllis E. Adams

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Clinical Projects, 2016-2019

The Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) has been functioning since the early 1970’s with little research on the dynamics of the members’ interprofessional collaboration practice. A current gap in the literature is research specific to the assimilation of the disciplines within the SART and the collaborative practice of the SART. The purpose of this project study is to clarify the 12 subscales of Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (motivation, role expectations, personality style, professional power, group leadership, communication, coping, social support, organizational culture, organizational aims, organizational domain, and organizational environment) and explore how each profession perceives these subscales. The sample participants were …

Drug Trafficking And The Presidential Family In Venezuela: The Narco Nephews, Daniela Castro

Capstones

An explosive combination of political turmoil, a deep economic crisis and critical security situation has Venezuela on the verge of collapse. Despite the alarming situation in the country, not everyone is doing so bad, especially those close to the ruling power. Ferraris, access to private aircrafts and bodyguards are only some of the privileges that only few can get access to in this impoverished South American nation.

Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, 30, and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, 31 -- the nephews of the Venezuelan Presidential couple -- were found guilty of conspiring to import hundreds of kilograms of cocaine …

911 Calls In Homicide Cases: What Does The Verbal Behavior Of The Caller Reveal?, Jon D. Cromer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Each year, numerous 911 calls reporting a death or a serious injury that leads to death are received by emergency communications centers; many of these turn out to be related to a homicide. Interestingly, a small percentage of these calls are made by the perpetrator. These calls constitute the first available evidence in most homicide cases. They are recorded at times of great stress and are the first versions of what the callers purport to know. The ability to develop hypotheses about a caller’s truthfulness enhances the police response by objectively informing the process of formulating early investigative strategies. For …

Warning: Stop-And-Frisk May Be Hazardous To Your Health, Josephine Ross

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.