Criminal Law & Process – Page 86 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

What Must a Defendant Do in Order to Go It Alone?

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:October 2, 2011
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Federal Criminal Law & Process Public Seventh Circuit

While awaiting trial on criminal charges in federal court, Michael Campbell wrote the following in a letter to the judge:

Your honor I am asking that John Taylor [Campbell’s court-appointed lawyer] be removed from my case. I am requesting that you appoint another lawyer to complete the process. If not I would like to proceed pro se.

As my Criminal Procedure students have heard me discuss at length, defendants do indeed have a Sixth Amendment right to represent themselves. Yet, Campbell’s request was not satisfied: Taylor continued to serve as his lawyer through the time of his trial and conviction. Campbell then raised the issue on appeal, but the Seventh Circuit nonetheless affirmed his conviction earlier this week (United States v. Campbell (No. 10-3002)). The court held, in effect, that Campbell should have renewed his request to go it alone, rather than sitting quietly throughout the trial as his lawyer continued to represent him.

“Reality-Challenged Theories of Punishment”: Weisberg Lecture on Oct. 6

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:September 27, 2011
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Public

I’m looking forward to Robert Weisberg’s talk here next week. He is delivering this year’s George and Margaret Barrock Lecture on Criminal Law. I think we can expect a pungent critique of retributive theories of punishment. Here is the description:

The theme of “American exceptionalism” has found perverse corroboration in the size of the prison population, according to Weisberg. At the same time, discourse about the “purposes of punishment” is thriving, with a recent revival of highly abstract theorizing about the nature and legitimacy of retribution, he says. In this lecture, Weisberg will describe the disconnection and recommend ways of overcoming it, stressing that the abstract theorizing must be more sensitive to what punishment means and what effects it has in modern America.

The lecture will be at 12:15 on October 6. For more information and to register, see the lecture website.

Doing Better Than “Nailing and Jailing” in the Fight Against Violence

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:September 27, 2011
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Marquette Law School Milwaukee Popular Culture & Law Poverty & Law Public Speakers at Marquette

As Milwaukee County Children’s Court Judge Joe Donald put it, “We do a very good job of trailing, nailing, and jailing.” But can Milwaukee do more when it comes to dealing with crime so that it can be prevented and the lives of those on the path to committing crimes turn out better?

The good news, participants in an “On the Issues” discussion Monday at Eckstein Hall generally agreed, is that the large majority of young people in the community are not involved in crime, that there are existing constructive programs involving thousands of youths , and those who went on highly-publicized sprees in the Riverwest neighborhood on July 3 and in and around the State Fair grounds on Aug. 4 are not typical.

The bad news is that it doesn’t take very many crimes to cause great harm, not only to the victims but to neighborhoods and the city as a whole, panel members agreed. Furthermore, criminals are getting younger and more violent, and the poverty which is so often the environment for criminals is getting broader and deeper in the city.

The panel discussion, hosted by Mike Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, before an audience of about 200, followed the showing Sunday night at the Milwaukee Film Festival of a documentary, “The Interrupters,” about efforts to reduce youth violence in Chicago.