Seventh Circuit Week in Review (With a Brief Digression on Criminal Justice Federalism)

The Seventh Circuit issued only one new criminal opinion in the past week.  In United States v. Robinson, the defendant’s ex-girlfriend (Evans) reported to a Milwaukee police officer that Robinson had a gun in his home, a charge that was later confirmed after the officer obtained a warrant to search Robinson’s residence.  Robinson was then convicted in federal court of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  On appeal, he argued that the cop who applied for the search warrant should have disclosed that Evans had recently been charged with disorderly conduct for threatening Robinson with a knife.  In Robinson’s view, had the judicial officer known the history of conflict between Evans and Robinson, the officer would have discounted the credibility of Evans’ allegation that Robinson had a gun and declined to issue the search warrant.  At a minimum, Robinson argued that he was entitled to a hearing on the matter under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978).

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Week in Review (With a Brief Digression on Criminal Justice Federalism)

Why Don’t We Punish People Who Kill in Self-Defense?

My colleague Janie Kim has a fascinating new article on SSRN called The Rhetoric of Self-Defense. In the article, she explores a surprising difficult problem in criminal law theory: why we don’t punish people who kill in order to save themselves from deadly attacks. I say “surprisingly difficult” because the self-protection defense is a well-established, noncontroversial aspect of criminal law. Compared to, say, the insanity defense, self-protection provokes little deep-seated opposition. Indeed, some purported self-defenders (like Bernhard Goetz, pictured above) have become folk heroes of sorts. Given its intuitive appeal and widespread support, the self-protection defense must rest on a firm theoretical foundation, right?

It turns out, though, that the dominant strands of criminal law theory have a hard time providing a compelling justification for the defense.

Continue ReadingWhy Don’t We Punish People Who Kill in Self-Defense?

Priorities for the Next President: Criminal Justice Policy

I’ve just received the latest issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, which is entirely devoted to ideas for criminal justice reform for the next Administration. The contributors are an amazingly diverse and well-credentialed bunch, including two U.S. Senators, two Congressmen, two representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice, a judge of the Missouri Supreme Court, the head of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, the former special projects director of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and representatives of the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association, the Federal Defenders, the private defense bar, and the legal academy. The contents are more specifically described through links here. (Unfortunately, little besides the table of contents is available for free download, although my own humble contribution to the issue is described in this post.  As an author, I do have a few extra copies that I would be happy to give away; please e-mail me your address if you are interested.) I look forward to reading what looks like a rich set of ideas by some of the most interesting thinkers and influential leaders in the criminal justice field.

Continue ReadingPriorities for the Next President: Criminal Justice Policy