Criminal Law

Featured Download: Cassell on Victim Impact Statements

Posted on September 07, 2009
If you want to introduce your students to the range of issues involved in considering the wisdom of victim impact statements, a recent manuscript by Paul G. Cassell (University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law) titled In Defense...

Justice Scalia on Originalism at the University of San Diego

Posted on September 06, 2009
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week, Justice Scalia taught classes and otherwise interacted with students and faculty at the law school. The highlight was a large public event, attended by over 600 students and members of the community,...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on September 06, 2009
for manuscripts announced in the last 60 days for the criminal law and procedure journals are here. The usual disclaimers apply.. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 332 Culture, Cognition, and Consent: Who Perceives What, and Why, in 'Acquaintance Rape' Cases...

Inadequacy of Criminal Prosecution in Computer Security Cases

Posted on September 06, 2009
Anita Ramasastry (University of Washington School of Law) has a helpful commentary on the subject at FindLaw entitled Heartbreak over Heartland: Why Prosecution for Data Breaches Isn't Enough.

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The Marginal Benefit (or Not) of "Enhanced Interrogation"

Posted on September 06, 2009
Ali H. Soufan, a former FBI special agent, concludes after a review of recently released documents that the "enhanced interrogation" techniques yielded almost no information that had not already been acquired through tradiional interrogation techniques...

Sarma on Kennedy v. Louisiana

Posted on September 05, 2009
Bidish Sarma has posted Still in Search of a Unifying Principle: What Kennedy v. Louisiana and the Supreme Court?s Denial of the State?s Petition for Rehearing Signal for the Future (Yale Law Journal Pocket Part, Vol. 118, pp. 55-60, 2008)...

Concerns about French Criminal Procedure

Posted on September 05, 2009
The title of the commentary at Jurist is Reforming Criminal Procedure in France, written by Judith Sunderland (senior researcher for Western Europe at Human Rights Watch) and William Bourdon (a criminal lawyer and a member of Human Rights Watch?s Paris...

"Cheney Is Wrong: There Is Precedent for the Torture Investigation"

Posted on September 05, 2009
That's the headline on an interesting commentary by Steve Sheppard (University of Arkansas School of Law) at FindLaw regarding the investigation by Attorney General Holder into interrogation practices during the Bush administration. The crux: Cheney argues that this investigation poses...

Hooray for College Football!

Posted on September 05, 2009
The first weekend of the college football season is a big treat for sports fans everywhere, and an even bigger treat for those of us who have spent our summer watching the San Diego Padres first play themselves hopelessly out...

Featured Download: Logan on Criminal Registration and Community Notification Laws

Posted on September 04, 2009
Wayne A. Logan (Florida State University College of Law) has posted the preface to his new book from Stanford University Press, Knowledge as Power: Criminal Registration and Community Notification Laws in America, on SSRN. The book is the first extended...

Previewing the Coming Term (Part 14): Briscoe v. Virginia

Posted on September 04, 2009
[This is the fourteenth in a series of posts by CrimProf?s graduate fellow, Peter Stockburger (University of San Diego Class of 2009), previewing the criminal law and procedure cases scheduled for argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this coming term.....

Howe on Race, Death and Disproportionality

Posted on September 04, 2009
Scott Howe (Chapman University - School of Law) has posted Race, Death and Disproportionality on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Statistical studies showing unconscious racial bias in capital selection matter under the eighth amendment. In McCleskey v. Kemp, the Court...

On Schauer on Brain-Based Lie Detection (Kolber)

Posted on September 03, 2009
Over the last several years, researchers have been trying to develop brain-based methods of detecting lies. The overwhelming consensus among neuroscientists is that such techniques are unreliable, particularly in real-world settings. That hasn't stopped at least a couple of companies...

Featured Download: Levine on Women Who Seduce Adolescent Boys

Posted on September 03, 2009
Kay L. Levine (Emory University School of Law) has posted an interesting manuscript, When Gender Meets Sex: An Exploratory Study of Women Who Seduce Adolescent Boys (William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law, Vol. 15, Issue 2, 2009),...

Previewing the Coming Term (Part 13): Weyhrauch v. United States

Posted on September 03, 2009
[This is the thirteenth in a series of posts by CrimProf?s graduate fellow, Peter Stockburger (University of San Diego Class of 2009), previewing the criminal law and procedure cases scheduled for argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this coming term.....

Culp on Prison Privatization

Posted on September 03, 2009
Richard Culp (City University of New York - Department of Public Management) has posted Prison Privatization Turns Twenty-Five: The Evolution of a Mature Private Prison Industry in the United States on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper examines the...

Pfizer: Biggest Fine Ever

Posted on September 03, 2009
The drug company agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal allegations that it illegally marketed a painkiller. Of the total, $1.2 billion is desginated as a criminal fine. The New York Times article is here, and Ellen...

Featured Download: Mannheimer on Deterrence and the Premeditation-Deliberation Formula

Posted on September 02, 2009
Michael Mannheimer (Northern Kentucky University - Salmon P. Chase College of Law) has posted Not the Crime But the Cover-Up: A Deterrence Based Rationale for the Premeditation-Deliberation Formula on SSRN--an interesting look at a long-standing problem...

Previewing the Coming Term (Part 12): United States v. Comstock

Posted on September 02, 2009
[This is the twelfth in a series of posts by CrimProf?s graduate fellow, Peter Stockburger (University of San Diego Class of 2009), previewing the criminal law and procedure cases scheduled for argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this coming term....

"Strippergate" Appeal

Posted on September 02, 2009
My colleague, Shaun Martin, has an interesting post over at his California Appellate Report blog on a case out of the Ninth Circuit today involving alleged bribery of San Diego city councilmen which came to be called "Strippergate" locally. (For...

Gluzman on Universal Jurisdiction

Posted on September 02, 2009
Helena Gluzman (University of Toronto) has posted On Universal Jurisdiction - Birth, Life and a Near-Death Experience? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper investigates the topic of universal jurisdiction, ie the supranational prosecution and repression - without the...

"Case Shows Limits of Sex Offender Alert Programs "

Posted on September 02, 2009
The headline of an article in today's New York Times. Here's the lead: In all 50 states, registries of sex offenders have grown sophisticated and accessible in recent years, a response to high-profile attacks on children. People can search their...

Exum on Honesty and Proportionality in Federal Sentencing

Posted on September 01, 2009
Jelani Jefferson Exum (University of Kansas School of Law) has posted Why March to a Uniform Beat?: Adding Honesty and Proportionality to the Individualized Tunes of Federal Sentencing on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Federal Sentencing Guidelines were initially...

Previewing the Coming Term (Part 11): Black v. United States

Posted on September 01, 2009
[This is the eleventh in a series of posts by CrimProf?s graduate fellow, Peter Stockburger (University of San Diego Class of 2009), previewing the criminal law and procedure cases scheduled for argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this coming term....

Messineo on Extraordinary Renditions and State Obligations to Prosecute Torture

Posted on September 01, 2009
Francesco Messineo (University of Cambridge) has posted The Abu Omar Case in Italy: ?Extraordinary Renditions? and State Obligations to Criminalize and Prosecute Torture Under the UN Torture Convention. Here is the abstract: This article deals with state obligations under the...

"Innocent But Dead"

Posted on September 01, 2009
That's the headline on the op-ed piece in the New York Times about the 2004 Texas execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted of starting a fire that killed his children. He had turned down a plea bargain that would have...

"A Casualty of the Technology Revolution: ?Locational Privacy?"

Posted on September 01, 2009
The title of the opinion piece in today's New York Times. The piece discusses a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which you can find here.

BNA's 2008-09 Term in Review: Criminal Law and Procedure

Posted on September 01, 2009
Ellen Podgor over at White Collar Crime Prof Blog has linked to this useful recap.

Reaction to Holder's Appointment of Prosecutor to Examine Abuse of Detainees

Posted on August 31, 2009
The New York Times has a story here. The lead is criticism from former vice president Dick Cheney. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expresses ambivalence about the wisdom of the inquiry.

Brookes on Restorative Justice and Work Related Death

Posted on August 31, 2009
Derek R. Brookes (University of Melbourne - School of Social and Political Sciences (Criminology)) has posted Restorative Justice and Work-Related Death: Consultation Report (Derek R. Brookes, RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND WORK-RELATED DEATH: CONSULTATION REPORT, Creative Ministries Network, 2009) on SSRN...

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