The United States? Criminal Justice System Divided*: ?On the Connection between the Exclusionary Rule and Preserving Civil Liberties (original) (raw)

Supreme Irrelevance: The Court's Abdication in Criminal Procedure Jurisprudence

2018

Criminal procedure is one of the Supreme Court’s most active areas of jurisprudence, but the Court’s rulings are largely irrelevant to the actual workings of the criminal justice system. The Court’s irrelevance takes two forms: objectively, on the numbers, its jurisprudence fails to protect the vast majority of people affected by the criminal justice system; and in terms of salience, the Court has sidestepped the major challenges in the United States today relating to the criminal justice system. These challenges include discrimination in stops and frisks, fatal police shootings, unconscionable plea deals, mass incarceration, and disproportionate execution of racial minorities. For each major stage of a person’s interactions with the criminal justice system — search and seizure, plea-bargaining, and sentencing — the Court develops doctrines that protect only a tiny percentage of people. This is because the Court focuses nearly all of its attention on the small fraction of cases impl...

Judicial Attempts to Control Police Behavior in the United States of America

2013

This research paper highlights the implications of judicial attempts to control police behavior in the United States of America. The discussion in this paper revolves around the general nature of ‘exclusionary rules’ discerned by the judicial decisions viz: Mapp vs Ohio (1961) where by the discretionary behavior of the police is scrutinized in detail. The consequent conduct and control of the judiciary in determining the constitutional framework for the police force as a ‘safety value’ for the ‘constitutional rights’ of the individuals, soliciting the warrants and/or judicial custody. The paper traces the historical evolution of the police force over the years, the comparative analysis of different police forces, and gradual emergence of jury system in the United States of America. The behavioral and structural reforms of the police force through the gradual development of the judicial system to check the discretionary powers exercised by police in the United States have been at ...

Discretion in Criminal Justice: Reflections Prompted by H.L.A. Hart's "Lost" Essay

Discretion in Criminal Justice: Reflections Prompted by H.L.A. Hart's "Lost" Essay, 2022

In his so-called “Lost” Essay, H.L.A. Hart asked, “What is discretion?” Hart sought to explain the nature and characteristics of discretion by close examination of several examples of discretion in law and in life, and he suggested further study along the same lines. In this draft article, we take up Hart’s suggestion by examining the role played by discretion in the American and Polish criminal justice systems. The article describes various aspects or stages of the American and Polish criminal justice systems that involve discretion, or something like it, and through analyzing these examples draws some tentative conclusions about the nature and characteristics of discretion in criminal justice.

The Enduring Virtues of Deferential Federalism: The Federal Government’s Proper Role in Prosecuting Law Enforcement Officers for Civil Rights Offenses

Hastings Law Journal, 2019

I also wish to thank Howard University School of Law and Dean Danielle Holley-Walker for providing generous research funding for this Article, and the Howard University Law Library staff for their invaluable assistance and cooperation. In addition, I wish to thank Editor-in-Chief Alyxandra Vernon and the entire Volume 70 Editorial Board of the Hastings Law Journal for their patience and dedication in working with me during the editing process. Lastly, this Article is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend, Professor J. Gordon Hylton, who always provided invaluable comments and insights in reviewing drafts of my scholarship. The views expressed herein are solely those of the Author.

A study of criminal justice discretion

Journal of Criminal Justice, 1994

Abstract This research empirically examined indicators of charging and sentence reduction and the criminal sanctions meted out to a representative sample of felons convicted in one midwestern state court. A multivariate analysis of prosecutorial and judicial discretion ...