Criminal Law

Blogging at the CLEAR Initiative Symposium

Posted on April 18, 2008
Today, John Marshall Law School and the John Marshall Law Review are hosting the Criminal Law Edit, Alignment and Reform (CLEAR) Initiative: A Symposium on the New Illinois Criminal Code. The conference has a variety of speakers from the state...

Around the Web

Posted on April 17, 2008
Prosecutors in Utah have charged a 15-year-old boy with a felony in a nude cell phone picture case. He was charged with one felony count of dealing material harmful to a minor, and three misdemeanor lewdness counts. We have previously...

Kennedy - The Day After Posts

Posted on April 17, 2008
Following the oral argument, here are some interesting links from around the Web: Supreme Court debates execution in child rape case, Times-Picayune (HT: How Appealing) Supreme Court ponders death for rapists of children, McClatchy Newspapers (HT: How Appealing) Justices skeptical...

SCOTUSBlog's Summary of Kennedy Argument

Posted on April 16, 2008
You have seen my summary over several posts. Here is the always diligent and interesting Lyle Denniston summarizing the argument in Kennedy. This is a small portion: Those exchanges may turn out to be significant because, if Coker does not,...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

The Petitioner's Rebuttal

Posted on April 16, 2008
Lastly, the Petitioner had a brief rebuttal: He goes right to the narrowing argument. He breaks down the numbers in the briefs about how many people are eligible for the death penalty under the Louisiana law. The Petitioner also explains...

Texas's Argument

Posted on April 16, 2008
Next up is Texas who is an amici arguing on behalf of Louisiana: Texas starts off with Megan's and Jessica's laws - I'm really baffled by this. They also say seven (not the normal six) states factor into the evolving...

Louisiana's Argument

Posted on April 16, 2008
In this post, I've attempted to summarize the key arguments by Louisiana: The Respondent starts off with the brutal details of the fact. Stevens interjected to point out that the victim's physical injuries were not, in fact, "permanent" as the...

A Summary of the Petitioner's Argument

Posted on April 16, 2008
Here is my summary of the key arguments on my first read through of the transcript of the Petitioner's argument: Interestingly, Scalia starts the questioning of the Petitioner on the second, narrowing issue. This gives some credence to my idea...

Argument Transcript for Kennedy is Up

Posted on April 16, 2008
I'm reading through it now. You can find it here. Related Posts: Kennedy v. Louisiana Resource Page

Markel, Retribution, and Kennedy

Posted on April 16, 2008
Dan Markel has an interesting post at PrawfsBlawg about how retributive theory fits into the Kennedy case: This article of mine from a couple years ago (update: sorry, I had the wrong link earlier) tries to systematically undermine that conclusion....

How Does Baze Affect Kennedy?

Posted on April 16, 2008
You might have heard that the lethal injection protocol decision, Baze, was issued today. As you would expect, the place to go for coverage of the case is Sentencing Law & Policy. Since a major Eighth Amendment decision was issued...

One of These Statutes Is Not Like the Others

Posted on April 16, 2008
Of the six states that currently have capital child rape statutes, Louisiana's is perhaps the most unusual of the group. In evaluating an "emerging standard of decency" under the Eighth Amendment, it seems to make sense to treat the six...

Mid-Morning Kennedy Links

Posted on April 16, 2008
There is more coverage across the web: No death penalty for rapists, Los Angeles Times Court meeting to weigh death penalty for child rapists, Associated Press Should child rapists be executed? High court to rule, McClatchy Newspapers (HT: How Appealing)...

Filler on Kennedy

Posted on April 16, 2008
Dan Filler has a pair of interesting posts at the Faculty Lounge connecting the Kennedy case with the issues surrounding Megan's Law. First, he emphasizes the commonality of rhetoric used to support Megan's Laws and the Louisiana capital child rape...

Morning Kennedy Links

Posted on April 16, 2008
Since the oral argument is today, I'm sure there will be a lot of coverage of the Kennedy case. To start things off, here are a few major media links: The Limits of the Death Penalty, New York Times A...

Around the Web

Posted on April 15, 2008
CBS News is reporting on a new phenomenon: teens using their cell phones to send nude pictures of themselves. According to the article, these messages "often spread quickly and sometimes find their way to public Web sites." The article mentions...

The Other Argument in Kennedy

Posted on April 15, 2008
The first argument being argued in Kennedy, that capital child rape statutes are (not) part of an evolving standard of decency, has overshadowed the second argument in media and web coverage. The second argument concerns whether the class of defendants...

CNN on Kennedy

Posted on April 15, 2008
Kennedy v. Louisiana is the headline story right now on CNN: For the first time in 44 years, a state is preparing to execute a man for a felony other than murder. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday...

Around the Web

Posted on April 01, 2008
The Associate Press is reporting that a Kansas judge has ordered a convicted sex offender to post "signs around his house and a decal on his car proclaiming that he is a sex offender." The signs in front of his...

I'm Speechless - Sex Crime Allegations Against Formula 1 Organization President

Posted on March 31, 2008
Periodically, I see a sex crime reported in the news and I think to myself that what I am reading is truly the strangest most depraved thing I have ever seen. Of course, I'm always wrong and run across a...

I'm in Buffalo

Posted on March 29, 2008
I'm here coaching our Criminal Law moot court team in the Weschler National Criminal Law Moot Court competition. Interestingly, the problem for them to argue this year is the Kennedy v. Louisiana case. I'm looking forward to seeing how law...

A Bunch of New Kennedy Posts

Posted on March 27, 2008
I haven't had time to post about all the great recent posts concerning Louisiana v. Kennedy. Sentencing Law & Policy has three interesting posts: Show me support for capital child rape laws (concerning the MO. amicus brief) Is the editorial...

Is Bigfoot a Sex Offender?

Posted on March 27, 2008
From Virginia, we get this story which defies easy explanation: A man who claims that he was molested by Bigfoot as a child was ordered to serve 20 years in prison yesterday for his own molestation-related activities. Gene R. Morrill,...

Are Sex Offenders Ill?

Posted on March 26, 2008
One of the assumptions that plagues policy discussions about sex offender policy is that sex offenders are mentally ill. This assumption usually leads to sometimes oppositional conclusions. First, some believe that offenders are sick, but incurable. This means they require...

The New New York Governor and Megan's Law

Posted on March 26, 2008
Dan Filler at the Faculty Lounge highlighted an unusual characteristic of the new governor of New York: he has been a vocal critic of Megan's Law: In the U.S. House, Megan's Law passed by a415-3 vote - and only one...

Around the Web

Posted on March 26, 2008
Sentencing Law and Policy notes that the Utah-based Deseret Morning News has published a four-part series on sex offenders. The articles look at the prevalence of sex abuse within the state, the differences between adult and juvenile sex offenders, how...

Bizarre New Proposal in Massachusetts

Posted on March 25, 2008
Dan Filler, at the new blog Faculty Lounge, points to a really odd proposal for restricting sex offenders in Massachusetts: Massachusetts state legislator Demetrius Atsalis has proposed that high risk sex offenders be prohibited from voting at polling places located...

Around the Web

Posted on March 25, 2008
Sentencing Law and Policy has a post discussing California's reaction to Jessica's Law. From the article: "As the state Supreme Court considers the validity of California's sex-offender statute, known as Jessica's Law, San Diego and other cities are passing tougher...

Carnival Against Sexual Violence 42

Posted on March 25, 2008
It went up at abyss2hope while I was out of the country. This is the Legal section: In The Truth About (Rape) posted at PC Bloggs - a Twenty-first Century Police Officer, we get a discussion about the irreversible impact...

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Convictions

Posted on March 25, 2008
Via Volokh and Sentencing Law & Policy, I see Slate is offering up a new blog with an amazing list of contributors named Convictions. I agree with Berman that the form of the Blog isn't the best and it isn't...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.