The Expansion of Child Pornography Law

This Symposium essay identifies two dramatic expansions of child pornography law: prosecutions for possessing images of children who are clothed and not engaged in any sexual activity, and prosecutions for possessing smaller portions of artistic and non-pornographic images. These prosecutions have expanded the definition of the term ‘‘child pornography’’ well beyond its initial meaning. What is more, they signal that child pornography laws are being used to punish people not necessarily because of the nature of the picture they possess, but rather because of the conclusion that those individuals are sexually attracted to children. If law enforcement concludes that a person finds an image of a child to be sexually arousing, then these laws can subject that individual to punishment, even though the image would have been perfectly innocuous had it been possessed by someone else

Towards a Series of Academic Norms for #Lawprof Twitter

Tentative thoughts on what professional norms ought to apply to law professors who engage in a now popular form of public discourse: Twitter. Specifically, it is suggested that law professors should assume that, each time they tweet about a legal issue, they are making an implicit claim to expertise about that issue. It is also suggested that when law professors participate on Twitter, they should do so in a fashion that models the sort of reasoned debate taught to law students

DNA Exonerations and the Elusive Promise of Criminal Justice Reform

Review of Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution: Twenty-Five Years of Freeing the Innocent (Daniel S. Medwed ed., Cambridge University Press 2017)

Sixth Amendment Sentencing After \u3ci\u3eHurst\u3c/i\u3e

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Hurst v. Florida, which struck down Florida’s capital sentencing scheme, altered the Court’s Sixth Amendment sentencing doctrine. That doctrine has undergone several important changes since it was first recognized. At times the doctrine has expanded, invalidating sentencing practices across the country, and at times it has contracted, allowing restrictions on judicial sentencing discretion based on findings that are not submitted to a jury. Hurst represents another expansion of the doctrine. Although the precise scope of the decision is unclear, the most sensible reading of Hurst suggests that any finding required before a judge may impose a higher sentence must first be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This reading invalidates several state capital sentencing systems and several noncapital systems, and it would require dramatic changes to federal sentencing as well

Towards a Series of Academic Norms for #Lawprof Twitter

Tentative thoughts on what professional norms ought to apply to law professors who engage in a now popular form of public discourse: Twitter. Specifically, it is suggested that law professors should assume that, each time they tweet about a legal issue, they are making an implicit claim to expertise about that issue. It is also suggested that when law professors participate on Twitter, they should do so in a fashion that models the sort of reasoned debate taught to law students

The Expansion of Child Pornography Law

This Symposium essay identifies two dramatic expansions of child pornography law: prosecutions for possessing images of children who are clothed and not engaged in any sexual activity, and prosecutions for possessing smaller portions of artistic and non-pornographic images. These prosecutions have expanded the definition of the term ‘‘child pornography’’ well beyond its initial meaning. What is more, they signal that child pornography laws are being used to punish people not necessarily because of the nature of the picture they possess, but rather because of the conclusion that those individuals are sexually attracted to children. If law enforcement concludes that a person finds an image of a child to be sexually arousing, then these laws can subject that individual to punishment, even though the image would have been perfectly innocuous had it been possessed by someone else

Sixth Amendment Sentencing After \u3ci\u3eHurst\u3c/i\u3e

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Hurst v. Florida, which struck down Florida’s capital sentencing scheme, altered the Court’s Sixth Amendment sentencing doctrine. That doctrine has undergone several important changes since it was first recognized. At times the doctrine has expanded, invalidating sentencing practices across the country, and at times it has contracted, allowing restrictions on judicial sentencing discretion based on findings that are not submitted to a jury. Hurst represents another expansion of the doctrine. Although the precise scope of the decision is unclear, the most sensible reading of Hurst suggests that any finding required before a judge may impose a higher sentence must first be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This reading invalidates several state capital sentencing systems and several noncapital systems, and it would require dramatic changes to federal sentencing as well

La ilustración artística : periódico semanal de literatura, artes y ciencias: Tomo VIII Año 385 Número - 1889 mayo 13

The Prosecutors and Politics Project has compiled a database that identifies who contributed to prosecutor elections and the amount of their donations. Campaign contribution information is often publicly available, but the format of that information varies from state to state, the information is often scattered across multiple sources and the information is sometimes incomplete. The Project has compiled this fragmented data into a single nationwide database that will allow sustained study about who contributes to prosecutor campaigns and the amount of contributions. This report summarizes and analyzes some of the data from the database. The report will be updated as more data is added to the database and analyzed. This report was last updated on June 10, 2019