Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons^™

Entrapment - An End? State V. Rowan, Kenneth D. Morse

Akron Law Review

Rowan creates a trap for the individual who is confronted by the undercover narcotics agent and who had no intention of committing the crime. That the crime is more likely to occur under Rowan cannot be doubted. It is of utmost significance that the narcotics agent may sell and deliver drugs. Courts cannot ignore a change of social mores which have occurred. 25 More and more people are willing to accept the existence of conduct which was previously branded as criminal behavior. It is precisely these people that the Rowan decision sets out to trap.

Seizure By Roadblock: Decisional Law On The Constitutionality Of Drunk Driving Roadblocks, Scott Freed

Akron Law Review

This comment will examine decisions addressing the constitutionality of roadblock stops. First, it will examine Delaware v. Prouse and other Supreme Court decisions which have developed what is referred to as the neutral criteria standard for judging the reasonableness of temporary automobile seizures at roadblock-type stops. Under the neutral criteria standard, law enforcement officers may conduct suspicionless seizures of vehicles at roadblocks for certain specific purposes. The neutral criteria standard requires that the seizure be carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers. Second, the comment will examine decisions which have found …

Newsroom: Horwitz On Ri Probation Reform, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Can Soldiers Be Peace Officers? The Waco Disaster And The Militarization Of American Law Enforcement, David B. Kopel, Paul M. Blackman

Akron Law Review

One of the most significant trends of federal law enforcement in the last fifteen years has been its militarization. The logical, perhaps inevitable, consequence of that militarization was seen in the disaster at Waco, Texas, resulting in the deaths of four federal agents, and seventy-six other men, women, and children. In this article, we use the Waco tragedy as a starting point to examine the militarization of federal law enforcement, and similar trends at the state and local level.

Part Two of this article sets forth the details and rationale of the Posse Comitatus Act--the 1878 law forbidding use of …

Kirsch V. Wisconsin Department Of Corrections: Will The Supreme Court Say "Hands Off" Again?, Owen J. Rarric

Akron Law Review

This Note examines the struggle of prison inmates to gain access to religious materials; materials that have been forbidden by prison officials. Part II of the Note will examine the historical development of inmates’ constitutional rights. It will also analyze the Supreme Court’s standard for reviewing prison regulations involving inmates’ constitutional rights. Moreover, the Note discusses Congress’ attempt to set the standard of review. The Note then examines the significance of the Kirsch decision. Finally, the Note analyzes the fourth factor of the Turner Standard used in Kirsch and explores the possible effect of a new legislative act on prisoners’ …

Bray V. Russell: The Constitutionality Of The "Bad Time" Statute, Erin Kae Cardinal

Akron Law Review

This Note analyzes the Court’s decision in Bray. Part II presents an overview of sentencing systems in the United States, the bad time penalty, and a brief background of the doctrine of separation of powers. Part III presents the facts, procedural history, and holding of Bray. Part IV analyzes the Court’s holding pursuant to the Due Process Clause rather than the doctrine of separation of powers. This Note concludes that although the bad time statute is unconstitutional as a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers, the court could have alternatively decided that the bad time statute also violates …

Tyler V. Cain: A Fork In The Path For Habeas Corpus Or The End Of The Road For Collateral Review?, Ronn Gehring

Akron Law Review

Tyler v. Cain is the latest decision in the ongoing evolution of the retroactivity doctrine in habeas corpus proceedings. The main issue this note presents is whether a state or federal inmate may apply a new constitutional rule promulgated by the Supreme Court retroactively on collateral review through a second or successive petition for habeas corpus, even though the rule was not applicable to the inmate’s original case. Under English common law, all new rules applied retroactively on both direct and collateral review. However, a divergence has occurred under American jurisprudence as to when new constitutional rules announced by the …

Tokin Up In The 5280: Insight Into How Denver Police Officers Make Sense Of, And Define, Interpret, And React To The Legalization Of Marijuana, Kara K. Hoofnagle

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Laws surrounding the possession, use, and distribution of marijuana have undergone many changes for over a century. Political pressures and social prejudices have most often been the cause of these changes, rather than scientific research or rational thinking. As a result, the law has sometimes lagged behind social practice as in the current case in much of the U.S., including Colorado. In such an environment, it often falls on a police officer's definition, interpretation, and reaction to the laws to determine the extent to which certain laws and sanctions are enforced. Drawing on the work of Weick (1976), this dissertation …

Sex Slavery In The Lone Star State: Does The Texas Human Trafficking Legislation Of 2011 Protect Minors?, Cheryl Nelson Butler

Akron Law Review

This Article argues that, while Texas has made great strides in its movement to combat child trafficking, there are three major areas in which further reform is needed. First, Texas should provide stronger protections for not only minors trafficked for sex, but also those trafficked for labor. Second, Texas law must shift its emphasis from prosecution of traffickers to a more balanced approach that also prioritizes the protection of minors and the prevention of future trafficking crimes against them. Third, Texas should adopt safe harbor provisions that reflect a child welfare response toward prostituted minors

Babies Behind Bars: An Evaluation Of Prison Nurseries In American Female Prisons And Their Potential Constitutional Challenges, Seham Elmalak

Pace Law Review

This note opens the prison doors and delves into the United States female prison system, primarily focusing on the positive and negative impact of nursery programs on mothers and children, along with potential constitutional claims that can be brought against these programs. Part I provides a general background about the American prison system, and briefly touches on the constitutional standards of prisoners’ rights. It also discusses the history and development of female prisons and illustrates the rapid increase of female incarceration. Part II focuses on the prevalence of mothers within the female population in prisons. Part III introduces prison nursery …

Full Disclosure: Cognitive Science, Informants, And Search Warrant Scrutiny, Mary Nicol Bowman

Akron Law Review

This article aims to improve the quality of evidence gathering and interpretation at one crucial phase of investigations: the evaluation of search warrant applications. Part II of this article provides background on the search warrant application process, including how courts evaluate such applications based on informants’ tips and how defendants can subsequently challenge those decisions. Part III then discusses the ways in which cognitive biases can affect each stage of the search warrant process. Part IV provides my suggested solutions to the problems identified, all of which fall under the general umbrella of full disclosure. That part argues that education …

Criminal Mind Or Inculpable Adolescence? A Glimpse At The History, Failures, And Required Changes Of The American Juvenile Correction System, Christopher J. Menihan

Pace Law Review

This Comment provides an historical analysis of the principles, understandings and laws that have formed and altered the American juvenile correction system. Part I offers an historical synopsis of the societal understanding that juvenile offenders are less culpable than their adult counterparts and explains the process by which this concept came to permeate early American common law. By discussing the early nineteenth-century juvenile correction reformation movement and the cases that followed, Part I also illustrates the development and early failures of the American juvenile correction system. Part II explains the history of juvenile waiver laws, from their early presence in …

Slaying The Dragon: How The Law Can Help Rehab A Country In Crisis, Samantha Kopf

Pace Law Review

Motor-vehicle-related deaths consistently topped the accidental death count in the United States for decades. In 2009, for the first time, drug poisoning took over as the number one accidental killer. In 1980, approximately 6,100 people died from drug overdose. In the past ten years, the drug overdose rate for males and females, regardless of race, ethnicity and age, increased. In 2000, 4.1 per 100,000 people died from unintentional drug overdose; in 2010, that number rose to 9.7 per 100,000. The drug overdose epidemic, now the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States, warrants national attention.

To reduce the …

Voluntary Disclosure Of Information As A Proposed Standard For The Fourth Amendment's Third-Party Doctrine, Margaret E. Twomey

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The third-party doctrine is a long-standing tenant of Fourth Amendment law that allows law enforcement officers to utilize information that was released to a third party without the probable cause required for a traditional search warrant. This has allowed law enforcement agents to use confidential informants, undercover agents, and access bank records of suspected criminals. However, in a digital age where exponentially more information is shared with Internet Service Providers, e-mail hosts, and social media “friends,” the traditional thirdparty doctrine ideas allow law enforcement officers access to a cache of personal information and data with a standard below probable cause. …

Boys, Rape And Masculinity: Reclaiming Boys' Narratives Of Sexual Violence In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

This article examines a little studied area at the intersections of masculinity, feminist studies, and criminal justice – sexual abuse of boys in custody by female staff. Professor Smith will outline the scope of the problem and discusses competing narratives that attempt to explain the phenomena: (1) female staff as “mother, sister, friend”; (2) adolescent development theory; (3) complex early childhood trauma; and (4) female authority and power. There is a gap in both masculinity and feminist theory in analyzing sexual aggression and power by women over boys. The talk will colclude with policy and practice prescription and recommendations for …

#Snitches Get Stitches: Witness Intimidation In The Age Of Facebook And Twitter, John Browning

Pace Law Review

In order to better understand witness intimidation in the age of social media, one must examine both the forms it has taken as well as the response by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. As this article points out, the digital age has brought with it a host of new ways in which witnesses may be subjected to online harassment and intimidation across multiple platforms, and those means have been used to target not only victims and fact witnesses but even prosecutors and expert witnesses as well. The article will also examine potential responses to the problem of witness …

The Challenges Of Preventing And Prosecuting Social Media Crimes, Thaddeus Hoffmeister

Pace Law Review

The adoption and use of social media by a broad spectrum of criminal defendants has raised some significant challenges for those tasked with crime prevention. This article will look at those challenges through the lens of three cases involving social media: United States v. Drew, United States v. Sayer, and United States v. Cassidy. However, prior to beginning that examination, this article will briefly discuss and categorize the various ways criminal defendants employ social media.

The Impact Of Prison Deinstitutionalization On Community Treatment Services, Beverly D. Frazier, Hung-En Sung, Lior Gideon, Karla S. Alfaro

Publications and Research

Background: With one in every 108 Americans behind bars, the deinstitutionalization of prisons is a pressing issue for all those facing the daunting challenges of successfully reintegrating ex-offenders into both their communities and the larger society. Given the strong evidence that treatment services, such as mental/behavioral health, alcohol/substance abuse, and primary healthcare may reduce recidivism, the large number of prisoner releases highlights the need for adequate treatment services in the community. It is within this context that the current study aims to examine the effects of prison deinstitutionalization on community based intervention modalities.

Methods: This study set out to address …

Newsroom: Yeluri '07 On Baltimore Protests, Swapna Yeluri

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Realignment On Property Crime: Perspectives Of Chiefs Of Police, Daniel S. Llorens

Dissertations

Realignment, instituted in October 2011, was California’s latest effort at prison reform by realigning responsibility for prisoners labeled nonviolent, non-serious, and non sex-related from the state to counties. Many of these offenders were in state prison upon conviction of property crime offenses. Realignment had a net decarcerative effect on offenders. Simultaneously, California cities’ officer staffing levels shrunk during the great recession. To determine what impact realignment may have had on property crime in small California cities, and to identify effective response strategies, property crime and officer staffing data was analyzed and a survey administered to the chiefs of those cities. …