CrimProf Blog

Bill to Ban Tasers Sales to Public Fails in TN

115,000 civilians have tasers.  Story here.  [Mark Godsey]

U.S. Inmate Population Increases by 2.2% Last Year

Story here. [Mark Godsey]

Violence=Knock and Announce Exception

From the Washington Post:  The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police do not need a warrant to go into a home to break up a bloody fight.  Justices said that a "melee" that Brigham City, Utah, police officers saw through a window early one morning in 2000 justified rushing in without knocking first.  Rest of story... [Mark Godsey]

NPR: AUSAs and the Attorney Client Privilege

Weekend Edition Sunday, May 21, 2006 · Federal prosecutors are trying to convince several current targets to give up attorney-client privilege in exchange for easier treatment. The American Bar Association says the tactic is not fair.   Listen to story here.  [Mark Godsey]

Medical Identity Theft on the Rise

Stealing insurance information to get free medical treatment.  More than 500,000 have been victimized so far.  Story.  [Mark Godsey]

New Article Spotlight: Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution after Hurricane Katrina

Brandon L. Garrett of Virginia and Tania Tetlow of Tulane have posted the above-titled article, forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal, on SSRN.  Here's the abstract:

The New Orleans criminal justice system collapsed after Hurricane Katrina, resulting in a constitutional crisis. Eight thousand people, mostly indigent and charged with misdemeanors such as public drunkenness or failure to pay traffic tickets, languished indefinitely in state prisons. For months the court system shut its doors, the police department fell into disarray, few prosecutors remained, and a handful of public defenders could not meet with, much less represent, the thousands detained. We present a narrative of the collapse of the New Orleans area criminal system after Hurricane Katrina, based in part on a series of interviews conducted with officials at all levels of the New Orleans criminal system. Not only did this perfect storm illuminate how unprepared our local criminal systems remain for a severe natural disaster or terrorist attack, but it raised unique and unexplored constitutional questions. We argue that the roles of constitutional criminal procedure and doctrines of federalism invert during such an emergency. Criminal procedure rules served less to constrain local criminal justice actors than to preserve normalcy, while deferential rules rooted in federalism had the unanticipated effect of hindering provision of critical federal emergency assistance. We conclude by imagining systems designed to safeguard the provision of local criminal justice during emergencies.

To obtain the paper, click here.  [Mark Godsey]

This Week's Top 5 Crim Papers

This week's top 5 crim papers, with number of recent downloads on SSRN, are:

1	147	The Poverty of the Moral Stimulus John Mikhail, Georgetown University - Law Center, Date posted to database: April 19, 2006 Last Revised: April 27, 2006
2	143	Loyalty to One's Convictions: The Prosecutor and Tunnel Vision Susan Bandes, DePaul University - College of Law, Date posted to database: March 16, 2006 Last Revised: March 17, 2006
3	100	Muslim Profiles Post-9/11: Is Racial Profiling an Effective Counterterrorist Measure and Does it Violate the Right to be Free from Discrimination? Bernard E. Harcourt, University of Chicago - Law School, Date posted to database: March 30, 2006 Last Revised: April 19, 2006
4	83	Crawford's Triangle: Domestic Violence and the Right of Confrontation Deborah Tuerkheimer, University of Maine School of Law, Date posted to database: April 10, 2006 Last Revised: April 18, 2006
5	80	The New Forensics: Criminal Justice, False Certainty, and the Second Generation of Scientific Evidence Erin Murphy, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall), Date posted to database: April 19, 2006 Last Revised: May 3, 2006

SCOTUS: Reviews Knock and Announce Rule

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard a case testing the knock and announce rule.  In the case in question, the police waited only three to five seconds after announcing their presence (without knocking) before entering the home. The case is Hudson v. Michigan, 04-1360. More. . . [Mark Godsey]

Duke Lacrosse Case and Jury Pool

The Christian Science Monitor says discusses the alleged efforts of the defense team to taint the jury pool.  [Mark Godsey]

Victim's Family Says CrimProf Scheck Intimidated Parole Board to Grant Reprieve to Convited Killer

Story.  [Mark Godsey]

The Hoffa Search Continues

in Detroit. Story. . . [Mark Godsey]

Texas: Rejects Excessive Pain from Lethal Injection

Lifts two stays, executes one man, schedules a second execution, but in a 5-4 decision. . . [Mark Godsey]

NY Man Exonerated Based on DNA Evidence

From DPIC: "After spending more than a decade in jail for a crime he did not commit, Douglas Arthur Warney has been exonerated and will be freed from prison in New York based on DNA evidence. Police maintained that Warney had confessed to the crime. Warney is a poorly educated man with a history of delusions and suffering from an advanced case of AIDS. He originally faced the death penalty for the 1996 stabbing murder in Rochester, but was ultimately convicted of second-degree homicide and sentenced to 25 years in jail." More. . . [Mark Godsey]

Federal Court Overturns Capital Conviction

on grounds of bias by trial judge.  Story ... [Mark Godsey]

Fat, Naked Guy From Survivor Gets 51 Months for Tax Fraud

The stupidest tax fraud of all time....fail to report the million bucks the whole world watched you win.  [Mark Godsey]

Tribe on NSA Wiretapping

Here.  [Mark Godsey]

Oregon CrimProf Wins Teaching Award

University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer presented law professor Tom Lininger with a crystal apple – a symbol of teaching excellence  –  in a surprise visit to a law faculty meeting on Friday, May 12. 

Frohnmayer was accompanied by Lininger’s wife, Merle Weiner, also a professor at the law school, and the couple’s two sons. 

This university-wide award recognizes exemplary teaching by faculty members early in their careers. Two winners are chosen each year based on the recommendation of faculty members and students; they receive a $2,000 stipend added to their base salary. “I’ve learned a lot from the other faculty here at the University of Oregon Lininger said.  “There are some great professors at this school who provide a model for the junior faculty.”  Lininger, an assistant professor of law who joined the faculty in 2003, is the seventh law faculty member to receive the Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Lininger has taught evidence, ethics, criminal procedure, and alternative dispute resolution. He also directs the law school’s Public Interest/Public Service Program. In 2004, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed Lininger to chair the state’s Criminal Justice Commission. 

Success for Ohio Innocence Project

and CrimProf Blogger Mark Godsey and his students, with the release of Christopher Bennett on Mother's Day.  CNN.com story here.

Can Cameras Racially Profile?

No, they're not that high tech.  But the people who locate them in London's suburbs can and apparantly have.  Or at least that's what the statistics seem to show.  In Metropolitan London, black people account for 46% of all arrests generated by new automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras, even though black residents account for only 11% of London's population.  Further study of the disparity shows that cameras are heavily concentrated in the London boroughs most heavily populated by black residents. More. . . [Mark Godsey]

This Week's Top 5 Crim Papers

This week's top 5 crim papers, with number of recent downloads from SSRN, are as follows:

(1)	144	The Poverty of the Moral Stimulus John Mikhail, Georgetown University - Law Center, Date posted to database: April 19, 2006 Last Revised: April 27, 2006
(2)	131	Loyalty to One's Convictions: The Prosecutor and Tunnel Vision Susan Bandes, DePaul University - College of Law, Date posted to database: March 16, 2006 Last Revised: March 17, 2006
(3)	76	Muslim Profiles Post-9/11: Is Racial Profiling an Effective Counterterrorist Measure and Does it Violate the Right to be Free from Discrimination? Bernard E. Harcourt, University of Chicago - Law School, Date posted to database: March 30, 2006 Last Revised: April 19, 2006
(4)	75	Crawford's Triangle: Domestic Violence and the Right of Confrontation Deborah Tuerkheimer, University of Maine School of Law, Date posted to database: April 10, 2006 Last Revised: April 18, 2006
(5)	64	The New Forensics: Criminal Justice, False Certainty, and the Second Generation of Scientific Evidence Erin Murphy, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall), Date posted to database: April 19, 2006 Last Revised: May 3, 2006