Criminal Law

Barkow on Organizational Guidelines for the Prosecutor's Office

Posted on January 04, 2010
Rachel E. Barkow (New York University - School of Law) has posted Organizational Guidelines for the Prosecutor's Office (Cardozo Law Review, Forthcoming )on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The existing framework for addressing prosecutorial misconduct is entirely backward-looking - and...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on January 03, 2010
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 323 The Increased Level of EU Antitrust Fines, Judicial Review, and the European Convention on Human Rights Wouter P. J. Wils, European Commission Legal Service, Date posted to database:...

Kerr on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Posted on January 02, 2010
Orin S. Kerr (George Washington University - Law School) has posted Vagueness Challenges to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (Minnesota Law Review, 2010 ) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article argues that the void for vagueness doctrine...

Government Misconduct Cited in Dismissal of Case Against Blackwater Defendants

Posted on January 01, 2010
The New York Times story is here: On Thursday, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against five Blackwater guards because he said prosecutors had violated the men?s rights by building the case based on sworn statements....

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Re on the Congressional Overruling of Recent Eighth Amendment Cases

Posted on December 31, 2009
Richard M. Re has posted Can Congress Overturn Kennedy v. Louisiana? The Contingency of Recent Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence (Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: As recently illustrated by Kennedy v. Louisiana, the...

Mosteller on Defenders and Protecting the innocent

Posted on December 31, 2009
Robert P. Mosteller (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - School of Law) has posted Protecting the Innocent: Part of the Solution for Inadequate Funding for Defenders, Not a Panacea for Targeting Justice (Missouri Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN...

Kim, Barak, and Shelton on the "CSI-Effect" on Jurors

Posted on December 30, 2009
Young S. Kim (Eastern Michigan University), Gregg Barak (Eastern Michigan University), and Donald E. Shelton (Eastern Michigan University) have posted Examining the 'CSI-Effect' in the Cases of Circumstantial Evidence and Eyewitness Testimony: Multivariate and Path Analyses (Journal of Criminal Justice,...

Wexler on Reintegrating inmates

Posted on December 30, 2009
David B. Wexler (University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law) has posted Retooling Reintegration: A Reentry Moot Court (Chapman Journal of Criminal Justice, forthcoming 2010 ) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay proposes that correctional...

Klamberg on International Criminal Law in Sweden

Posted on December 29, 2009
Mark Klamberg (Stockholm University) has posted International Criminal Law in Swedish Courts: The Principle of Legality in the Arklöv Case (International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 9, pp. 395-409, 2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: On 18 December 2006, the...

Humbach on the Biology of Blame

Posted on December 29, 2009
John A. Humbach (Pace University School of Law) has posted The Humane Principle and the Biology of Blame: Evolutionary Origins of the Imperative to Inflict (Proceedings of Global Conference on Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness) on SSRN. Here is...

Perlin on Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Incompetency and Insanity Cases

Posted on December 28, 2009
Michael L. Perlin (New York Law School) has posted ?Too Stubborn to Ever be Governed by Enforced Insanity?: Some Therapeutic Jurisprudence Dilemmas in the Representation of Criminal Defendants in Incompetency and Insanity Cases (International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Vol...

"Florida's 2005 Stand Your Ground law, which broadens a citizen's right to use deadly force, is vexing courts across the state"

Posted on December 28, 2009
The story is in the Miami Herald: No one disputes that Maurice Moorer fired more than a dozen bullets to kill a rival sitting in a car in West Little River last year. Moorer claimed self-defense. Police detectives begged to...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on December 27, 2009
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 316 The Emerging Criminal War on Sex Offenders Corey Rayburn Yung, The John Marshall Law School, Date posted to database: August 18, 2009 2 314 The Increased Level of...

Paul-Emile on Drug Control Policy

Posted on December 26, 2009
Kimani Paul-Emile (Fordham University - School of Law) has posted Making Sense of Drug Regulation: A Theory of Law for Drug Control Policy (Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article advances...

Merry Christmas from CrimProf Blog!

Posted on December 25, 2009
Here's a trivia question you can use to stump friends and family during the holiday season: In what movie was the song first sung that became the best-selling single record of all time? Answer after the jump. The song is...

Utah Expands Admissibility of Expert Testimony on Eyewitness Identifications

Posted on December 25, 2009
The Salt Lake Tribune covers the decision of the Utah Supreme Court here: [A] judge refused to allow the expert, David Dodd, to testify and instead warned jurors about the dangers of eyewitness testimony with a jury instruction, which had...

"Maine's high court finds part of sex offender registration law unconstitutional"

Posted on December 24, 2009
Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy has the story. The opinion in the case is available here.

Turner on Ethics in International Criminal Defense

Posted on December 23, 2009
Jenia Iontcheva Turner (Southern Methodist University (SMU) - Dedman School of Law) has posted Legal Ethics in International Criminal Defense (Chicago Journal of International Law, Winter 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper examines the new and complex...

Austin on Women at the Border

Posted on December 23, 2009
Regina Austin (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Women?s Unequal Citizenship at the Border: Lessons from Three Nonfiction Films about the Women of Juárez (GENDER EQUALITY: DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN'S EQUAL CITIZENSHIP, Linda C. McClain, Johanna L...

"Polanski exit strategy suggested by court"

Posted on December 22, 2009
The L.A. Times story is here: A state appellate court Monday rejected Roman Polanski's bid to have his 1977 child-sex prosecution dismissed but outlined a way that could end the long-running case without Polanski serving more time behind bars or...

"Are federal prosecutors acting worse or are judges just starting to notice?"

Posted on December 22, 2009
Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy asks this interesting question in response to a couple of recent incidents he cites, which follow the better-known Broadcom dismissal.

"The Elephant in the Crime Stats Living Room"

Posted on December 22, 2009
Kent Scheidegger at Crime and Consequences thinks that recent coverage of declines in crime rates leaves an important factor out: Year-to-year fluctuations don't tell us much. The long-term trends are that violent crime went way up in the 60s, 70s,...

Mosteller on Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems and the Protection of the Innocent

Posted on December 21, 2009
Robert P. Mosteller (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - School of Law) has posted Failures of the American Adversarial System to Protect the Innocent and Conceptual Advantages in the Inquisitorial Design for Investigative Fairness (Symposium on the Future...

"FBI Report: Crime, Murder Rate Dropped in First Half of 2009"

Posted on December 21, 2009
The ABC News website has the story here. Crime fell 4.4 percent nationwide in the first half of 2009 with the murder rate dropping a startling 10 percent, according to statistics released Monday by the FBI. The decline in murders...

"Court Rejects Polanski Bid to Dismiss Case"

Posted on December 21, 2009
The Wall Street Journal has the article here: Attorneys for the fugitive director argued earlier this month that misconduct in the case was grounds for dismissal of a charge of having unlawful sex with a minor. They also contended Mr....

"Repeat Offenses in Texas Raise Questions Over Release of Mentally Ill Juveniles"

Posted on December 21, 2009
The A.P. story is here.

Keller on Prior Convictions in Illegal Re-Entry Cases

Posted on December 20, 2009
Doug Keller has posted Why the Prior Conviction Sentencing Enhancements in Illegal Re-Entry Cases are Unjust and Unjustified (and Unreasonable Too) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article discusses an important sentencing issue that affects thousands of lives each...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on December 20, 2009
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 308 The Emerging Criminal War on Sex Offenders Corey Rayburn Yung, The John Marshall Law School, Date posted to database: August 18, 2009 2 307 The Increased Level of...

"Treatment vs. incarceration: U.S. officials debate handling of drug offenses"

Posted on December 19, 2009
The Washington Post story is here.

"California's death row grows as death sentences decline nationwide"

Posted on December 19, 2009
The L.A. Times story is here.

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