"Latest New York recidivism numbers provide more to be thankful for"

Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy excerpts and links to the article.

Next week's criminal law/procedure arguments

Issue summaries are from ScotusBlog, which also links to papers: Monday Elonis v. U.S.: (1) Whether, consistent with the First Amendment and Virginia v. Black, conviction of threatening another person under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires proof of the defendant's...

Stinneford on Dividing Crime, Multiplying Punishment

John F. Stinneford (University of Florida Levin College of Law) has posted Dividing Crime, Multiplying Punishments (48 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. __ (2015 Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When the government wants to impose exceptionally harsh punishment on...

Kuersten on Sexual Assault in the Military

Andreas Kuersten has posted Sexual Assault and the Military Petri Dish (Joint Force Quarterly, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 91-97 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The military is held to a higher standard in preventing sexual assault and...

"Nearly a year into clemency initiative, turkeys remain more likely to get Prez Obama pardon than people"

Doug Berman has this post at Sentencing Law & Policy. In part: At the risk of being a holiday party pooper, I cannot help but note that it has now been a full 10 months since the Obama Administration publicly...

Assy & Menashe on Risk Assessment in Israel's Parole Law

Rabeea Assy and Doron Menashe Sr. (University of Haifa - Faculty of Law and University of Haifa - Faculty of Law) have posted The Catch-22 in Israel's Parole Law (Criminal Justice and Behavior, Volume 41, pp 1422-1436 (2014)) on SSRN....

More commentary on Ferguson grand jury

At Slate, "Shadow Trial": This move to morph a grand jury inquiry, which is typically a short rundown of the case for the prosecution, into a trial-like parade of mountains of evidence raises serious issues about the rights of Michael...

"Cleveland video shows police shot boy within seconds"

From Reuters: Cleveland officials on Wednesday released a video of the fatal police shooting of a 12-year-old boy that shows him pointing a pellet gun around a park before police arrive and shoot him within two seconds. Tamir E. Rice...

When the ham sandwich speaks: "Suspect testimony in the grand jury room"

Orin Kerr has this incisive post discussing the Ferguson grand jury and co-blogger Paul Cassell's view at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Paul writes: “Only if there was good reason to discount [Wilson's] testimony, should the grand jury have returned...

Meares on Stop and Frisk as a Program

Tracey L. Meares (Yale University - Law School) has posted Programming Errors: Understanding the Constitutionality of Stop and Frisk as a Program, not an Incident on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay takes seriously the relevance of law enforcement...

Lott on Deterring Crime Through Private Security Efforts

John R. Lott Jr. (Crime Prevention Research Center) has posted Comment on 'The Deterrence of Crime Through Private Security Efforts: Theory and Evidence' on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Unfortunately, many who have examined the impact of so-called "shall-issue" or...

Leighton with a case study of corporate wrongdoing

Paul Leighton (Eastern Michigan University - Dept of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology) has posted Mass Salmonella Poisoning by the Peanut Corporation of America on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In late 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first...

"Woman Who Faked Son's Cancer Gets Probation [and 90 nights in jail]"

From the Colorado Springs Gazette: Nguyen pleaded guilty in September to one count each of charitable fraud and child abuse. Police say she convinced her son, family and others in the community that the boy had leukemia and had been...

"Rand Paul: The Politicians Are To Blame in Ferguson"

From Time: In the search for culpability for the tragedy in Ferguson, I mostly blame politicians. Michael Brown’s death and the suffocation of Eric Garner in New York for selling untaxed cigarettes indicate something is wrong with criminal justice in...

Luther on Felon Firearm Rights Restoration

Robert Luther III has posted The Quiet Army: Felon Firearm Rights Restoration in the Fourth Circuit (23 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 237 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article discusses the restoration of firearm rights...

Oehme, Stern & Mennicke on Women Law Enforcement Officer and Campus Sexual Assaults

Karen Oehme , Nat Stern and Annelise Mennicke (Florida State University College of Social Work, Institute for Family Violence Studies , Florida State University - College of Law and Florida State University - College of Social Work) have posted A...

"It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did"

This post is at FiveThirtyEight. In part: There are at least three possible explanations as to why grand juries are so much less likely to indict police officers. The first is juror bias: Perhaps jurors tend to trust police officer...

"California man's conviction in 1978 murder overturned on DNA evidence"

From Reuters: A California man who spent more than 30 years in prison for a 1978 murder was ordered released on Monday by a judge who overturned his conviction based on DNA analysis and investigative reports that were withheld from...

"Will Texas Kill an Insane Man?"

Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy links to and excerpts this piece from The New York Times. In part: On Dec. 3, Texas plans to execute an inmate named Scott Panetti, who was convicted in 1995 for murdering his...

Gibson & Lain on Death Penalty Drugs

James Gibson and Corinna Lain (University of Richmond School of Law and University of Richmond - School of Law) has posted Death Penalty Drugs and the International Moral Marketplace (Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 103, 2015 (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is...

Steinhoff on Self Defense

Uwe Steinhoff (University of Hong Kong - Department of Politics and Public Administration) has posted What Is Self-Defense? (Public Affairs Quarterly, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this paper, I will provide a conceptual analysis of the term...

Prosecutorial discretion

Not surprisingly, a couple of posts: this one at The Volokh Conspiracy, and this one at ACSLaw.Blog.

Langos on Sexting

Colette Langos (University of South Australia - School of Law) has posted Sexting: Time for Some Changes to the Law? ((2014) 36 (10) The Bulletin, 18-20) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Policy makers have, quite rightly, approached management of...

"[NC] Judge unseals info on secret cellphone spying"

FourthAmendment.com excerpts and links to this article from The Hill: A judge Friday unsealed a trove of court documents that could shed light on a secret cellphone tracking program used by police nationwide. . . . Included are 529 requests...

"Thousands of Criminals, on the Way Back to Your Neighborhood"

Bill Otis has this post at Crime & Consequences. In part: Whether President Obama has the authority to allow the effective nullification of our immigration statutes through executive order is an interesting subject, about which I may have more to...

"Unlawful Assembly Arrests in Ferguson"

The story is in The New York Times: Three people were charged with unlawful assembly overnight in protests in Ferguson, Mo., law enforcement authorities said early Saturday, as the St. Louis region awaits a grand jury’s decision on whether to...

"The FBI Is Very Excited About This Machine That Can Scan Your DNA in 90 Minutes"

FourthAmendment.com links to and excerpts this piece from Mother Jones. In part: Schueren grabbed a cotton swab and dropped it into a plastic cartridge. That's what, say, a police officer would use to wipe the inside of your cheek to...

"Duty to retreat before using deadly force against would-be killer — but not against would-be robber"

Eugene Volokh has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy, discussing and expressing puzzlement at the apparent implications of New York statutes.

Morris & Robinson on The Neuroscientific Case Against Retributive Justice

Stephen Morris and Robert C. Robinson (Independent and City University of New York (CUNY)) have posted The Neuroscientific Case Against Retributive Justice on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Retributive Justice is the theory of justice according to which individuals are...

Skopek on Reasonable Expectations of Anonymity

Jeffrey M. Skopek (University of Cambridge - Faculty of Law) has posted Reasonable Expectations of Anonymity (Virginia Law Review, Vol. 101, 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court has concluded that the Fourth Amendment's protections do...

"The ‘heat of passion’ voluntary manslaughter theory"

Eugene Volokh has this interesting post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: The voluntary manslaughter post on Wednesday led to an interesting exchange with a colleague. Is the notion that certain kinds of killings in the “heat of passion” can...

Perlin on Mental Disability, Prosecutorial Misconduct, and the Death Penalty

Michael L. Perlin (New York Law School) has posted 'Power and Greed and the Corruptible Seed': Mental Disability, Prosecutorial Misconduct, and the Death Penalty on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s death penalty jurisprudence is based in large...

"Judge threatens detective with contempt for declining to reveal cellphone tracking methods"

FourthAmendment.com links to and excerpts this article from the Baltimore Sun. In part: Baltimore prosecutors withdrew key evidence in a robbery case Monday rather than reveal details of the cellphone tracking technology police used to gather it. The surprise turn...

"California Can't Enforce Rules Tracking Sex Offenders Online"

How Appealing links to this article discussing a recent Ninth Circuit case.

Kupfer on the ACCA

Avi M. Kupfer has posted A Comprehensive Administrative Solution to the Armed Career Criminal Act Debacle (113 Michigan Law Review 151 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For thirty years, the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) has imposed a...

"Bill to Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked in Vote by Senate Republicans"

From The New York Times: Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a sweeping overhaul of the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects records of Americans’ phone calls in bulk. Democrats and a handful of Republicans who supported the measure failed...

Cusack on Juveniles and Therapeutic Justice

Carmen M. Cusack (Nova Southeastern University) has posted Kent Make-Up Their Minds: Juveniles, Mental Illness, and the Need for Continued Implementation of Therapeutic Justice within the Juvenile Justice and Criminal Justice Systems (American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy &...

"Judges impose rare, stricter requirement for “stingray” use by police"

FourthAmendment.com links to and excerpts and links to an article: Judges in Pierce County, Washington, have now begun requiring law enforcement agencies to ask for specific permission when using a cell site simulator, commonly known as a “stingray,” according to...

Tonry on Falling Crime Rates

Michael Tonry (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - School of Law) has posted Why Crime Rates Are Falling Throughout the Western World (43 Crime & Justice, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Crime rates have moved in parallel...

Miller & Segal on Female Officers and Law Enforcement Quality

Amalia R. Miller and Carmit Segal (University of Virginia (UVA) - Department of Economics and University of Zurich - Department of Economics) have posted Do Female Officers Improve Law Enforcement Quality? Effects on Crime Reporting and Domestic Violence Escalation on...

Shealy on Trickery in Interrogations

Miller W. Shealy Jr. (Charleston School of Law) has posted The Hunting of Man: Lies, Damn Lies, and Police Interrogations (University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review, Vol. 4, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The job...

Yeager on Accidents

Daniel B. Yeager (California Western School of Law) has posted What is an Accident? (51(3) Criminal Law Bulletin __ (2015 Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Who has not heard or deployed the homely, everyday excuse “it was an...

"Examining Crawford after a decade"

Doug Berman at Sentencing Laww & Policy links to this new on-line symposium titled "Crawford v. Washington: A Ten Year Retrospective," at First Impressions, the online companion to the Michigan Law Review.

Minteh on Narco-Terrorism

Binneh S. Minteh (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) has posted Narco-Terrorism - A Risk Assessment of Global Terrorist Linkages to the International Drug Trade on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Global security analysts have exhaustively examined the nexus...

"For Ferguson Grand Jury, Details and Responsibilities Are Abundant"

From The New York Times: Routinely, grand juries are virtual rubber stamps for prosecutors, approving the proposed indictments after hearing from a few witnesses and getting the bare outlines of the incriminating evidence. But the Ferguson case, laden with incendiary...

"California Becomes 1st State to Abolish Gay Panic Defense"

Colin Miller has this post at EvidenceProf Blog. In part: Some defendants, such as Brandon McInerny, have been able to claim that learning about the gender or sexual orientation of their victim constitutes sufficient legal provocation. Last month, however, the...

Prieger & Kulick on Violence in Illicit Markets

James E. Prieger and Jonathan Kulick (Pepperdine University - School of Public Policy and Pepperdine University - School of Public Policy) have posted Violence in Illicit Markets: Unintended Consequences and the Search for Paradoxical Effects of Enforcement on SSRN. Here...

"Massey ex-CEO indicted over fatal 2010 West Virginia mine blast"

From Reuters: Donald Blankenship, a former chief executive of Massey Energy Co, was indicted on Thursday on charges he violated federal mine safety laws prior to the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners at the company's Upper Big Branch...

Humbach on Revenge Porn Laws

John A. Humbach (Pace University School of Law) has posted How to Write a Constitutional 'Revenge Porn' Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Most of the recently enacted revenge-porn laws are content-based regulations of speech. They are, as such,...

Gehi & Munship on the Impact of VAWA and Hate Crimes Legislation on Asian-American Communities

Pooja S. Gehi and Soniya Munshi have posted Connecting State Violence and Anti-Violence: An Examination of the Impact of VAWA and Hate Crimes Legislation on Asian American Communities (Asian American Law Journal, Vol. 21, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the...

Eldred review of Ponsor's The Hanging Judge

Tigran Eldred (New England Law | Boston) has posted Fact and Fiction: The Hanging Judge by Michael Ponsor (New England Law Review on Remand, Vol. 48, p. 61, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay reviews the debut...

Light et al. on Citizenship and Punishment

Michael T. Light , Michael Massoglia and Ryan D. King (Purdue University , University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Sociology and State University of New York (SUNY) - Sociology) have posted Citizenship and Punishment: The Salience of National...

Delgado on Law's Violence

Richard Delgado (University of Alabama - School of Law) has posted Law's Violence: Derrick Bell's Next Article (University of Pittsburgh Law Review, 2014, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Written for a symposium honoring Derrick Bell, Law's Violence identifies...

"Massachusetts school deploys 'shooter detection system'"

From Reuters: A Massachusetts school has introduced a security system designed to alert authorities and administrators when shots are fired in the building, the first of its kind in the United States, according to the manufacturer. The technology, adapted from...

"Did the Innocence Project Frame an Innocent Man?"

Kent Scheidegger at Crime & Consequences links to and excerpts an article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. From his commentary: An important change in the public perception of capital punishment occurred about 15 years ago as stories of death row inmates...

Plater & Milne on Capital Punishment of Females in Colonial Australia

David Plater and Sue Milne (University of South Australia - School of Law and School of Law - University of South Australia) have posted 'All That's Good and Virtuous or Depraved and Abandoned in the Extreme'? Capital Punishment and Mercy...

Tuerkheimer on Consent and Rape

Deborah Tuerkheimer (Northwestern University - School of Law) has posted Consent Culture and the Forgotten Law of Rape on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The need for institutional reform to address the problem of sexual assault, particularly on college campuses,...

Kahan on Cognition

Dan M. Kahan (Yale University - Law School) has posted Laws of Cognition and the Cognition of Law (Cognition, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper presents a compact synthesis of the study of cognition in legal decisionmaking....

Perrin on Canada's New Prostitution Laws

Benjamin Perrin (University of British Columbia) has posted How to Make Canada's New Prostitution Laws Work (The Macdonald-Laurier Institute Commentary, October 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Bill C-36 (Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act) marks a turning...

"Impact of California's Prop 47 already being felt ... by defense attorneys and police"

Doug Berman has this post at Sentencing Law & Policy, excerpting an article from a California newspaper.

Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads

in criminal law and procedure ejournals are here. The usual disclaimers apply. RankDownloadsPaper Title 1 376 Brady's Blind Spot: Impeachment Evidence in Police Personnel Files and the Battle Splitting the Prosecution Team Jonathan Abel Stanford Law School - Constitutional Law...

"Magistrate issues arrest warrants for 17 years but is new to “probable cause”"

Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Here’s a remarkable case from the Ohio Supreme Court, State v. Hoffman, involving an unconstitutional arrest warrant. The defendant was arrested for a misdemeanor based on a defective arrest...

Jones on Victims in Plea Bargaining

Elizabeth N. Jones (Western State College of Law) has posted The Ascending Role of Crime Victims in Plea-Bargaining and Beyond (West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 100, 2014) This Article looks to the nationwide trend of promoting a victims’...

DiSanto on Identity Crimes and the First Amendment

Philip F. DiSanto has posted Blurred Lines of Identity Crimes: Intersection of the First Amendment and Federal Identity Fraud (Columbia Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Several recent high-profile criminal cases have highlighted the dynamic nature of...

Garrett on Rehabilitating Corporations

Brandon L. Garrett (University of Virginia School of Law) has posted Rehabilitating Corporations (Florida Law Review Forum, Vol. 66, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: A central goal of federal prosecutors is to rehabilitate corporations, and not just to...

Transcript in today's ACCA case

The transcript in Johnson v. U.S. is here.

Lamparello & MacLean on Riley v. California

Adam Lamparello and Charles E. MacLean (Indiana Tech - Law School and Indiana Tech Law School) have posted Riley v. California: The New Katz or Chimel? (Richmond Journal of Law and Technology, 2014 Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...

Ley & Verhovek on The Political Foundations of Miranda and Quarles

Aaron J. Ley and Gordie Verhovek (University of Rhode Island and University of California, Berkeley) have posted The Political Foundations of Miranda v. Arizona and the Quarles Public Safety Exception on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When Dzhokhar Tsaernaev was...

Sepinwall on Corporate Criminal Liability

Amy J. Sepinwall (University of Pennsylvania - Legal Studies Department) has posted two pieces on SSRN about corporate criminal liability. The first is Responsible Shares and Shared Responsibility: In Defense of Responsible Corporate Officer Liability. Here is the abstract: When...

Roth on Entrapment

Jessica A Roth (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) has posted The Anomaly of Entrapment (Washington University Law Review, Vol. 91, No. 4, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Now in our second decade after 9/11, we are firmly...

Lingel & Sinnreich on Mass Surveillance

Jessa Lingel and Aram Sinnreich (Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Research New England and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - School of Communication and Information (SC&I)) have posted Incoded Counter-Conduct: Technologies of Resistance and Conditions of Incarceration on SSRN....

Perlin & McClain on Restorative Justice in Forensic Cases

Michael L. Perlin and Valerie Rae McClain (New York Law School and Neurology and Physical Therapy Centers of Tampa Bay) have posted Can Restorative Justice Be of Value in Forensic Cases? Perspectives of a Lawyer and a Psychologist on SSRN....

Kagan on Immigrant Victims/Accusers

Michael Kagan (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law) has posted Immigrant Victims, Immigrant Accusers (University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Vol. 48, 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The U Visa program...

Slobogin on American Culture and Hyper-Incarceration

Christopher Slobogin (Vanderbilt University - Law School) has posted How Changes in American Culture Triggered Hyper-Incarceration: Variations on the Tazian View (Howard Law Journal, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: American imprisonment rates are far higher than the rates...

"Maryland man charged with threatening to kill Obama in email"

From Reuters: A 42-year-old Maryland man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama in an explicit email strewn with racist remarks was in custody on Sunday, the United States Secret Service said. Christopher Perkins...

"Former FAMU band member convicted in 2011 hazing death"

From CNN: The alleged ringleader of a group of Florida A&M University marching band students who beat drum major Robert Champion Jr. in a 2011 hazing incident was convicted Friday of multiple charges related to Champion's death, according to CNN...