Criminal Law

Objections to NYPD database holding information on those frisked and released

Posted on March 13, 2010
Bob Herbert's New York Times column is entitled Big Brother in Blue. The speaker of the New York City Council and the head of the Council?s Public Safety Committee are calling on Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to get rid of...

Ainsworth on Zappers

Posted on March 12, 2010
Richard Thompson Ainsworth (Lecturer, Boston University - School of Law) has posted Zappers - Retail VAT Fraud on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Zappers skim cash sales at retail. Zappers are add-on programs used by merchants with electronic cash registers...

Orenstein on Crawford's Effect on Domestic Violence Cases

Posted on March 12, 2010
Aviva Orenstein (Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington) has posted Sex, Threats, and Absent Victims: The Lessons of Regina v. Bedingfield for Modern Confrontation and Domestic Violence Cases on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In 2004, Crawford v...

"Mandatory minimum sentencing busts budgets and bloats non-violent prison rolls"

Posted on March 12, 2010
Deborah Fleischaker, director of state legislative affairs for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, has this piece at Jurist: [T]here is no evidence to suggest that repealing mandatory sentences would lead to an increase in crime. In fact, states that have significantly...

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"Criminal Prosecutors Push for Tougher Gang Laws"

Posted on March 11, 2010
The story is at FindLaw. In part: Police and prosecutors say changes would strengthen the law by defining "criminal gangs" and "criminal gang members," to broaden the types of crime considered gang activity. . . . Some of the proposed...

Barkow on Federalism and Criminal Law

Posted on March 11, 2010
Rachel E. Barkow (New York University - School of Law) has posted Federalism and Criminal Law: What the Feds Can Learn from the States on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Criminal law enforcement in the United States is multi-jurisdictional. Local,...

Innovation in Using Brain Imaging to Assess Memories (Kolber)

Posted on March 11, 2010
Here's the actual research, here's a news story, and here's an excerpt from the news story: In the study, Maguire and her colleagues Martin Chadwick, Demis Hassabis, and Nikolaus Weiskopf showed 10 people each three very short films before brain...

11yo Charged With Murder May Be Tried as Adult (Kolber)

Posted on March 11, 2010
An eleven-year-old boy in Pennsylvania is charged with murdering his future stepmother. A judge will soon decide whether he will be tried as an adult and possibly face life in prison without the possibility of parole. (In unrelated cases, the...

Hallevy on Culture Crimes Against Women

Posted on March 10, 2010
Gabriel Hallevy (Ono Academic College, Faculty of Law) has posted Culture Crimes Against Women on SSRN. Here is the abstract: About five thousand women are murdered by their families each year in the name of family honor. A young Muslim...

Jones, Buckholtz, Schall & Marois on Brain Imaging

Posted on March 10, 2010
Owen D. Jones (Vanderbilt University School of Law), Joshua Buckholtz (Vanderbilt University), Jeffrey D. Schall (Vanderbilt University), and Rene Marois (Vanderbilt University) have posted Brain Imaging for Legal Thinkers: A Guide for the Perplexed (Stanford Technology Law Review, Symposium Issue:...

Pettys on Jurors and Abandoning the Exclusionary Rule

Posted on March 09, 2010
Todd E. Pettys (University of Iowa - College of Law) has posted Instrumentalizing Jurors: An Argument Against the Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule (Fordham Urban Law Journal, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this symposium contribution, I contend that...

Hessick and Hessick on Recognizing Constitutional Rights at Sentencing

Posted on March 09, 2010
F. Andrew Hessick III (Arizona State University - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law) and Carissa Byrne Hessick (Arizona State, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law) have posted Recognizing Constitutional Rights at Sentencing (California Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN...

Arcila on the Death of Suspicion

Posted on March 08, 2010
Fabio Arcila Jr. (Touro College - Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center) has posted The Death of Suspicion (William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 1275, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article argues that neither...

Today's Speedy Trial Act opinion

Posted on March 08, 2010
in Bloate v. United States is here. Here is the syllabus: The Speedy Trial Act of 1974 (Act) requires a criminal defendant?s trial to commence within 70 days of his indictment or initial appearance,18 U. S. C. §3161(c)(1), and entitles...

Guiora on "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act of 2010"

Posted on March 08, 2010
Amos Guiora (University of Utah College of Law) critiques this recent proposal in a piece at Jurist.The bill mandates that any person detained on suspicion of terrorist acts or material support for terrorism be placed in military custody. The detainee...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on March 07, 2010
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 378 The Emerging Law of Detention: The Guantanamo Cases as Lawmaking Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney, Rabea Benhalim, Unaffiliated Authors - affiliation not provided to SSRN, University of Texas School...

Monahan & Walker on Social Science in (Criminal) Law

Posted on March 07, 2010
John Monahan (pictured) and Laurens Walker (both of University of Virginia School of Law) have posted Twenty-Five Years of Social Science in Law (Law and Human Behavior, Forthcoming). While the piece addresses a range of legal issues, several criminal law...

Norton on the Quarles Exception to Miranda

Posted on March 06, 2010
Rorie Norton has posted Matters of Public Safety and the Current Quarrel Over the Scope of the Quarles Exception to Miranda (Fordham Law Review, Vol. 78, pp. 101-139, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In October 1984, the Burger...

Perlin on Neuroimaging and Competency after Panetti

Posted on March 06, 2010
Michael L. Perlin (New York Law School) has posted Neuroimaging and Competency to Be Executed after Panetti on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Scholars have begun to consider the impact of neuroimaging evidence on capital punishment trials, questioning whether reliance...

"US death penalty stance increasingly at odds with international community"

Posted on March 05, 2010
Jurist has the piece by Richard Dieter, executive director, Death Penalty Information Center.

"The Good Faith Exception and Changing Law"

Posted on March 04, 2010
FourthAmendment.com links to "three great posts by Orin Kerr on the good faith exception and changing law."

"Chelsea King tragedy heats up politics around sex offender monitoring"

Posted on March 04, 2010
Doug Berman links to and excerpts the story at Sentencing Law and Policy.

Police, "Flipping the Bird," and the First Amendment (Kolber)

Posted on March 04, 2010
Man claims police retaliated against him for "flipping them the bird". (How often did he do it? "Not once, not twice, but three times.") -AJK (via BoingBoing)

"2d Amendment extension likely"

Posted on March 03, 2010
Lyle Denniston reviews yesterday's much anticipated argument in McDonald v. City of Chicago at ScotusBlog.

Gwin on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Community Values

Posted on March 02, 2010
James Gwin has posted Juror Sentiment on Just Punishment: Do the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Reflect Community Values? (Harvard Law & Policy Review, Vol. 4, pp. 173-200, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Do the Federal Sentencing Guidelines reflect community...

Opinion in Johnson v. United States

Posted on March 02, 2010
is here. The syllabus: Petitioner Johnson pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. 18 U. S. C. §922(g)(1). The Government sought sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which authorizes an enhanced penalty for a person who...

Argument transcript from McDonald v. City of Chicago

Posted on March 02, 2010
is here.

"Boycotting of judges nothing new to DA"

Posted on March 01, 2010
This interesting story in yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune: Since 2003, prosecutors have targeted at least three other Superior Court judges for whole or partial boycotts. Sources in the courthouse, the local defense bar and the District Attorney?s Office said...

Today's Cert Grant: Testimonial or Not?

Posted on March 01, 2010
The Court granted cert in Michigan v. Bryant. Here's the issue as described on ScotusBlog, which also links to cert papers and the opinion below: Whether preliminary inquiries of a wounded citizen concerning the perpetrator and circumstances of the shooting...

"Utah Bill Would Criminalize Illegal Abortions"

Posted on March 01, 2010
The story is in the New York Times: Last May in a small town in eastern Utah, a 17-year-old girl, seven months pregnant, paid a man she had just met $150 to beat her up in hopes of inducing a...

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