Criminal Law

"High Court Weighs Death Row Inmate?s DNA Query"

Posted on October 14, 2010
Adam Liptak reviews yesterday's oral argument in The New York Times. In part: WASHINGTON ? In the course of an hourlong argument at the Supreme Court on Wednesday about a death row inmate?s quest to test DNA evidence, the justices...

"Special feature: Texas death row DNA case"

Posted on October 13, 2010
This post at ScotusBlog is the third in an interesting series providing background on today's oral argument about access to DNA testing. Part one is here, and part two is here.

Green on White-Collar Crime and Punishment

Posted on October 13, 2010
Bruce A. Green (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Thinking About White-Collar Crime and Punishment (Criminal Justice, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article reviews white-collar crime questions now under review by the...

"Trial of Man Once Held at Guantánamo Opens"

Posted on October 13, 2010
From the New York Times: In the first civilian trial of a former Guantánamo detainee, the word Guantánamo was not uttered in front of the jury as the case began on Tuesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. . ....

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"Study: Prop. 19 Won't Dramatically Reduce Drug Cartel Revenues"

Posted on October 13, 2010
Christine Dowling has this post at Crime and Consequences, reporting on this RAND Corporation study.

Argument transcript in Skinner v. Switzer

Posted on October 13, 2010
is here.

Ohlin on Joint Intentions to Commit International Crimes

Posted on October 13, 2010
Jens David Ohlin (Cornell Law School) has posted Joint Intentions to Commit International Crimes (Chicago Journal of International Law, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The following article is an attempt to provide a coherent theory that international tribunals...

Bandes on Cop Shows

Posted on October 12, 2010
Susan A. Bandes (DePaul University - College of Law) has posted And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on The Wire and the Criminal Justice System (Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2011) on SSRN. Here is...

Argument transcript in Premo v. Moore

Posted on October 12, 2010
is here.

Argument transcript in Harrington v. Richter

Posted on October 12, 2010
is here.

Today's crim law/procedure cert grants

Posted on October 12, 2010
Issue summaries from ScotusBlog, which also links to cert papers and opinions below: Bond v. United States: Whether a criminal defendant convicted under a federal statute has standing to challenge her conviction on grounds that, as applied to her, the...

Lee on the Disappearing Container Doctrine

Posted on October 12, 2010
Cynthia Lee (George Washington University Law School) has posted The Disappearing Container Doctrine (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the 1970s, the Court announced in a series of cases that police officers...

Products liability blog interview crimprof Mark Osler

Posted on October 11, 2010
You can find the post at Abnormal Use, focusing on what civil litigators should know about the cirminal process.

Birckhead on Lawyering Across Difference in Juvenile Court

Posted on October 11, 2010
Tamar R. Birckhead (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - School of Law) has posted Culture Clash: The Challenge of Lawyering Across Difference in Juvenile Court (Rutgers Law Review, Vol. 62, No. 4, 2010) on SSRN. Here is...

Against juvenile facilities

Posted on October 11, 2010
From an editorial in the New York Times: New York State will spend an extraordinary $170 million this year on 21 juvenile facilities. The system has more than 2,000 employees to oversee fewer than 700 children. . . . New...

"Canada high court rules no right to counsel during interrogation"

Posted on October 11, 2010
The story is at Jurist: The court held that § 10(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text], which states that those under arrest have the right "to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of...

Diluted valor and mistaken good opinions as criminal harms

Posted on October 11, 2010
This A.P. story from the Washington Post raises the issue, though the focus is on the First Amendment: DENVER -- The Justice Department is battling to save a federal law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war...

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

Posted on October 10, 2010
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 208 Palestine and the International Criminal Court: Asking the Right Question Michael G. Kearney, London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Law, Date posted to...

"Brady violations by DPS fingerprint examiners? Is fingerprint examination even science?"

Posted on October 09, 2010
An interesting post over at Grits for Breakfast. In part: Mr. Strong described what happens when the first examiner finds a match but the verifying analyst doesn't agree. In such instances, he said, they notified their supervisor and all of...

Robinson on Mercy, Crime Control and Moral Credibility

Posted on October 09, 2010
Paul H. Robinson (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Mercy, Crime Control & Moral Credibility on SSRN. Here is the abstract: If, in the criminal justice context, "mercy" is defined as forgoing punishment that is deserved, then much of....

"Israeli Rape by Fraud Cases"

Posted on October 08, 2010
Eugene Volokh has this interesting post over at The Volokh Conspiracy providing an interesting contrast to the usual U.S. rule.

"Rights group claims France police illegally collecting Roma DNA"

Posted on October 08, 2010
Jurist has the story here. "French police may collect samples of genetic material from indicted individuals, though the organization contends that police have subjected the Roma to such procedures without being either arrested or charged."

Next week's crim law/procedure arguments

Posted on October 08, 2010
Issue summaries are from ScotusBlog, which also has links to briefs and opinions below: Tuesday, Oct. 12 Harrington v. Richter: (1) Did the Ninth Circuit err in finding that a lawyer provided ineffective assistance to a criminal defendant by declining...

Audio of this week's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments

Posted on October 08, 2010
The site is here. The plan is to update it every Friday with the arguments from that week.

"YouTube video on a search over a burned out taillight"

Posted on October 08, 2010
FourthAmendment.com links to this video that provides a good example of what happens when you try to stand on your rights, and also is a useful way to see if your students know what their rights are.

"High court delays execution of man said to be mentally deficient"

Posted on October 08, 2010
The story is at CNN.com: The inmate's lawyers say he is mentally deficient, with an IQ of about 68. The high court has banned executions of the mentally deficient but has established no clear standard of determining who is in...

Jackson & Bradford on Police

Posted on October 07, 2010
Jonathan Jackson (pictured) and Ben Bradford (London School of Economics & Political Science - Methodology Institute) have posted two manuscripts on SSRN: The first is Trust and Confidence in the Police: A Conceptual Review. Here is the abstract: In Britain,...

Pinard on Collateral Consequences of Convictions

Posted on October 07, 2010
Michael Pinard (University of Maryland Law School) has published Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions: Confronting Issues of Race and Dignity at The Legal Workshop. An excerpt: While collateral consequences have always accompanied criminal convictions in the United States, their impact...

"NPR?s ?On Point? on the Rutgers Suicide, Cyberbullying, and Internet Crime Law"

Posted on October 07, 2010
Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy, discussing his appearance on the show: Interestingly, I was on the same radio program back in 2003 making philosophically similar points in a totally different context. Back then, the issue was...

"Hearing on ?Reining in Overcriminalization: Assessing the Problems, Proposing Solutions?"

Posted on October 06, 2010
Ellen Podgor at White Collar Crime Prof Blog has this post about a recent hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee of Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

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