FSU College of Law Research Center Blog

Is There an iCrime Wave

The Urban Institute in Washington D.C. has issued the report: "Is There an iCrime Wave."

The recent increase in violent crime defies easy explanation, and many hypotheses have been put forward for debate. In this brief, we propose that the rise in violent offending and the explosion in the sales of iPods and other portable media devices is more than coincidental. We propose that, over the past two years, America may have experienced an iCrime wave.

See a summary here.
The report is here.

Posted by Jon Lutz

The Physical Basis of Moral Judgments

A recent study by Michael Koenigs, et al., Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgments, published in the March 21, 2007 online version of Nature, demonstrates the effect of damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex on a person's ability to make normal judgments of right and wrong.  The authors conclude that in "high-conflict personal moral dilemmas" which feature "competing considerations of aggregate welfare on the one hand, and, on the other hand, harm to others that would normally evoke a strong social emotion," participants in the study with focal bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a brain region necessary for the normal generation of emotions, particularly 'social emotions,' appeared to "rely on explicit norms endorsing the maximization of aggregate welfare and prohibiting the harming of others."  According to an article by Benedict Carey in March 22, 2007, edition of The New York Times, p. A19, participants with "ventromedial injuries were about twice as likely as other participants to say they would push someone in front of the train (if that was the only option)..." Some of the questions asked of the study participants can be found in a March 22, 2007, article by Roxanne Khamsi at NewScientist.com. 

Posted by Mary McCormick

Neuroscience and Criminal Responsibility

Criminal law assumes that actors are responsible for their actions except under strictly limited circumstances, but neuroscientists are challenging this view.  "The Brain on the Stand" in the New York Times magazine discusses various implications of "neurolaw" for our legal system. (Requires free registration.)

Robin Gault

DOJ's New Charging Guidelines in Corporate Fraud Prosecutions

Paul J. McNulty, Deputy Attorney General, issued new charging guidelines in corporate fraud prosecutions today. Under the old guidelines (the "Thompson Memorandum"), a federal prosecutor, as part of assessing whether a corporation cooperated with a government investigation, could look at "whether the company is paying the attorneys’ fees of individuals alleged to have committed the fraud." According to the Press Release, the new guidelines (which will likely become known as the "McNulty Memorandum")  "generally prohibit prosecutors from considering whether a corporation is advancing attorneys’ fees to employees or agents under investigation or indictment," except in "extremely rare cases": "[F]ee advancement can be considered where the totality of the circumstances show that it was intended to impede a government investigation."

Posted by Mary McCormick

McGruff Goes Cyber to Stop Crime

Eveyone's favorite crime dog is making special appearances throughout New York City to take a bite out of cybercrime!  McGruff's website lists tips for adults and children alike in a series of tip sheets aimed at adult computers users, homes with children, places of business, and mobile users.  Check out the Frequently Asked Questions page for Questions and Answers for Adults that get to the heart of usual questions fast!

Posted by Marin Dell

The Perfect Crime

Brian Kalt, Associate Professor of Law at Michigan State College of Law, has written an interesting and provocative article, The Perfect Crime. This article was the fruit of his research on the Sixth Amendment vicinage requirement.  Professor Kalt notes, "Venue (the place a trial is held) and vicinage (the place from which jurors are drawn) are at the root of our problem; they have let people get away with murder before.  In England before 1548, it "often happene[d]" that a murderer would strike his victim in one county, and "by Craft and Cautele" avoid punishment by making sure that the victim died in the next county.  An English jury could only take cognizance of the facts that occurred in its own county, so no jury would be able to find that the killer had committed all the elements of murder."  And apparently, there is a "zone of death" [in the United States].. which "sits at the perimeter of Yellowstone National Park."  Felonies with impunity?  Read more of Professor Kalt's outlying constitutional arguments at SSRN.

Excerpt from: Kalt, Brian C., "The Perfect Crime". Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 93, No. 2 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=691642

Posted by Marin Dell taken from Teknoids listserv

Supreme Court Limits the Exclusionary Rule

"The U.S. Supreme Court limited the time-honored exclusionary rule yesterday when it held that evidence seized in a home search may still be used for trial even after police failed to "knock and announce" before entering."  Hudson v. Michigan was decided on June 15, 2006.

"The 5-4 decision also underlines the change in the makeup of the court now that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has replaced Sandra Day O’Connor. Hudson was one of two cases reargued this term after Alito joined the court, hinting at a 4-4 split among the justices in the wake of O’Connor’s departure. Alito likely tilted the decision toward the more restrictive use of the exclusionary rule elaborated in Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion."

"The knock-and-announce rule, under which police are required to wait before entering a suspect’s residence, "has never protected … one’s interest in preventing the government from seeing or taking evidence described in a [search] warrant," Scalia wrote. "Since the interests that were violated in this case have nothing to do with the seizure of the evidence, the exclusionary rule is inapplicable."

Excerpts from: http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jn16hudson.html

The issue for "Wayne State University Law School professor David Moran, who will argue Hudson’s case, [is that] the 4th Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures” is at stake. At issue...is whether evidence obtained after a knock and announce violation is the fruit of an “unreasonable” entry, and therefore subject to suppression. “The criminal prosecution of officers is never going to happen,” he said, citing Mapp v. Ohio (1961), which called other remedies “worthless and futile.”  [H]e could find only two cases in which a knock and announce victim won a civil lawsuit against the police, and in those cases the victim was awarded only $1."

Excerpt from: http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/002753.php

People v. Hudson (Unpublished Michigan Court of Appeals opinion)

Hudson v. Michigan (U.S. Supreme Court Brief for Respondent)

Posted by Marin Dell

Documents in the News - Lethal Injection

An article in today's New York Times (page A14) describes an order entered in Willie Brown, Jr. v. Theodis Beck (E.D. N.C. 4/17/2006) allowing North Carolina to use a "bispectral index (BIS) monitor" to determine whether Mr. Brown is unconscious before proceeding with his execution by legal injection. The BIS monitor is made by Aspect Medical Systems.  Read a copy of the opinion here.

Posted by Mary McCormick

'CSI Effect'

With so many CSI shows on TV, do juries now expect a 'CSI moment'?  Is there a disconnect between what goes on in a real courtroom and the TV shows?  On this topic Law Journal has an online panel discussion, titled: "Criminal Law:  The 'CSI' Effect."  Available below in both RealVideo and Windows Media.  This is a big file and download of the file will take several minutes or longer.
RealVideo
Windows Media

Posted by Jon Lutz

Child Offenders Sentenced to Life

A new report published jointly this week by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch finds that 2.225 child offenders have been tried as adults and sentenced to life in prison. The report, The Rest of Their Lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States can be found here.

Posted by Margaret Clark