Criminal Procedure Commons^™

The Immortal Accusation, Lindsey Webb

Washington Law Review

In the American criminal justice system, accusations have eternal life. Prosecutors, judges, and prison officials regularly consider dismissed charges and even prior acquittals in the defendant’s criminal history when making decisions ranging from the filing of charges to the imposition of punishment. This Article argues that the criminal justice system’s reliance on “accusation evidence” should be understood as furthering that system’s larger allegiance to attaining and preserving findings of guilt. Once the government obtains a guilty plea or verdict, appellate courts rarely overturn convictions based on concerns about the accuracy of the conviction; indeed, post-conviction review procedures often are structured …

Taxing Legalized Marijuana: How Courts Should Treat Drug Tax Statutes In Light Of The Fifth Amendment's Self-Incrimination Clause And Executive Non-Enforcement Of The Controlled Substances Act, Joseph A. Goldstein

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Praise Defenders, Not Just Prosecutors, Stephen Henderson

Other Faculty Publications

In this letter to the editor, I discuss the problems when a district court judge becomes a graduate and class spokesperson for a Citizens' Police Academy.See article here.See letter here.

Why Ban "Assault Weapons"?, James B. Jacobs

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

You Have The Right To Be Confused! Understanding Miranda After 50 Years, Bryan Taylor

Pace Law Review

Part I of this article briefly explores the background and historical context that ultimately led to the Miranda decision. As the late Dr. Carl Sagan once said, “you have to know the past to understand the present.” Understanding the circumstances and cases leading up to Miranda helps in the overall application of Miranda to cases of today. Part II addresses whether a statement should be allowed into evidence and provides a practical working approach to conduct a Miranda analysis. This innovative approach provides a step-by-step process in determining the admissibility of statements pursuant to Miranda and its progeny. This process …

Unequal Access To Justice: Solla V. Berlin And The Unprincipled Evisceration Of New York’S Eaja, Armen H. Merjian

Pace Law Review

Solla is noteworthy not merely in light of the baleful effects of its ruling, but because of its reasoning: it is categorically wrong. The decision wholly elides a cornerstone and settled principle of New York welfare law, namely, that in the administration of public assistance, the municipalities act as the agents of the State, while blatantly violating the most fundamental of agency principles, namely, that a principal is vicariously liable for the actions of its agent acting within the scope of its authority. Indeed, this principal/agent relationship is established both by statute and by decades of uniform state and federal …

Plea Bargaining As Dialogue, Rinat Kitai-Sangero

Akron Law Review

This Article proposes turning plea bargaining into a dialogical process, which would result in lessening a defendant’s sense of alienation during the progress of the criminal justice procedure. This Article argues that plea bargaining constitutes an opportunity to circumvent restrictions existing during a trial or outside a trial, such as the inadmissibility of character evidence and the need for the victim's consent in restorative justice proceedings. This Article proposes to navigate the plea bargaining process in a way that creates a real dialogue with defendants. Such a dialogue can reduce the sense of alienation that defendants feel from their position …

Hijacked At The Border: Why The Government Should Have Reasonable Suspicion Before Conducting Intrusive Examinations Of Our Personal Electronic Devices, Ryne Spengler

Seton Hall Circuit Review

No abstract provided.

Breaking Bad Science: Due Process As A Vehicle For Postconviction Relief When Convictions Are Based On Unreliable Scientific Evidence, Vincent P. Iannece

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note argues that due process requires a new trial when scientific evidence necessary to the conviction becomes so unreliable as to call the validity of the jury’s verdict into question. Part I of this Note discusses how scientific evidence is admitted, the procedure for a convicted defendant’s postconviction relief once that evidence is deemed unreliable, and the constitutional protections that a convicted defendant is afforded under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Part II of this Note examines the divide among appellate courts as to whether the Due Process Clause requires a new trial when a …

How The Right To Speedy Trial Can Reduce Mass Pretrial Incarceration, Zina Makar

All Faculty Scholarship

Kenny Johnson1 was thirty-two years old when he was released from a Baltimore City jail— almost three years after his arrest in October 2012. Johnson was not serving a sentence, but these three years were spent under pretrial detention. He had been denied bail. Johnson’s case was a rollercoaster of delays and uncertainty, particularly towards the end of his pretrial incarceration. The need for certainty convinced Johnson to plead guilty—he could not stand knowing that his pretrial incarceration could be indefinite and he wanted to be sure he was going home, guilty or not guilty.

Between the time he was …

Evading Miller, Robert S. Chang, David A. Perez, Luke M. Rona, Christopher M. Schafbuch

Seattle University Law Review

Miller v. Alabama appeared to strengthen constitutional protections for juvenile sentencing that the United States Supreme Court recognized in Roper v. Simmons and Graham v. Florida. In Roper, the Court held that executing a person for a crime committed as a juvenile is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. In Graham, the Court held that sentencing a person to life without parole for a nonhomicide offense committed as a juvenile is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. In Miller, the Court held that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for a homicide offense committed by a juvenile is also unconstitutional under …

Blood And Privacy: Towards A "Testing-As-Search" Paradigm Under The Fourth Amendment, Andrei Nedelcu

Seattle University Law Review

A vehicle on a public thoroughfare is observed driving erratically and careening across the roadway. After the vehicle strikes another passenger car and comes to a stop, the responding officer notices in the driver the telltale symptoms of intoxication—bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and a distinct odor of intoxicants. On these facts, a lawfully-procured warrant authorizing the extraction of the driver’s blood is obtained. However, the document fails to circumscribe the manner and variety of testing that may be performed on the sample. Does this lack of particularity render the warrant constitutionally infirm as a mandate for chemical analysis of the …

Abandoned Criminal Attempts: An Economic Analysis, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

An attempt is 'abandoned' if the criminal, despite having a chance to continue with his criminal plan, forgoes the opportunity to do so. A regime that makes abandonment a defense to criminal attempts provides an incentive to the offender to withdraw from his criminal conduct prior to completing the previously intended offense. However, the same regime may induce offenders to initiate criminal plans more often by reducing the expected costs associated with such plans. The former effect is called the marginal deterrence effect and the latter is called the ex-ante deterrence effect of the abandonment defense. This Article formalizes a …

Alternative Courts And Drug Treatment: Finding A Rehabilitative Solution For Addicts In A Retributive System, Molly K. Webster

Fordham Law Review

    Sentencing drug crimes and treating drug-addicted defendants often stem from contradictory theories of punishment. In the late twentieth century, courts traded rehabilitation for retributive ideals to fight the “War on Drugs.” However, beginning with the Miami-Dade Drug Court, treatment and rehabilitation have returned to the forefront of sentencing policy in traditional and alternative drug courts.

    Jurisdictions have implemented a variety of policies designed to treat addiction as opposed to punishing it. Community courts, such as the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, New York, community-panel drug courts, such as the Woodbury County Community Drug Court in Iowa, and Hawaii’s …

Police Body Cameras: Implementation With Caution, Forethought, And Policy, Dru S. Letourneau

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Beagle's Blog Archive For November 2015, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Aaron J. Campbell

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

How America Tolerates Racism In Jury Selection, Larry D. Thompson

Popular Media

This Op-ed by Professor Larry Thompson appeared in the New York Times on October 30, 2015. Professor Thompson discusses the case, Foster v. Chatman, which will be heard by the Supreme Court on November 2, 2015. In this case, the Court will decide whether the exclusion of jurors intended to unconstitutionally influence the jury’s racial make-up in a capital murder case in Georgia.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words: Applying Foia's Exemption 7(C) To Mug Shots, Rebecca Rosedale

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note argues that Exemption 7(C) of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), which exempts from disclosure information compiled for law enforcement purposes that "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," should be categorically applied to mug shots. Part I of this Note explores the recognition of a privacy right and the regulation of public records in the United States, with a focus on FOIA. Part II discusses the conflicting viewpoints held by the circuit courts that have decided whether or not Exemption 7(C) applies to mug shots. Each court analyzed whether a personal …

Criminal Justice And The 2013-2014 United States Supreme Court Term, Madhavi M. Mccall, Michael A. Mccall, Christopher E. Smith

Hamline Law Review

*