November 2006 Vol. 105 No. 2 THE REVIEW
ARTICLES

The Cognitive Psychology of Circumstantial Evidence

Kevin Jon Heller

Empirical research indicates that jurors routinely undervalue circumstantial evidence (DNA, fingerprints, and the like) and overvalue direct evidence (eyewitness identifications and confessions) when making verdict choices, even though false-conviction statistics indicate that the former is normally more probative and more reliable than the latter. The traditional explanation of this paradox, based on the probability-threshold model of jury decision-making, is that jurors simply do not understand circumstantial evidence and thus routinely underestimate its effect on the objective probability of the defendant’s guilt. 

  READ MORE    //  VIEW PDF

"Eggshell" Victims, Private Precautions, and the Societal Benefits of Shifting Crime

Robert A. Mikos
READ MORE    //  VIEW PDF

Burkean Minimalism

Cass R. Sunstein
READ MORE    //  VIEW PDF
NOTES

The Glucksberg Renaissance: Substantive Due Process since Lawrence v. Texas

Brian Hawkins

On their faces, Washington v. Glucksberg and Lawrence v. Texas seem to have little in common. In Glucksberg, the Supreme Court upheld a law prohibiting assisted suicide and rejected a claim that the Constitution protects a “right to die”; in Lawrence, the Court struck down a law prohibiting homosexual sodomy and embraced a claim that the Constitution protects homosexual persons’ choices to engage in intimate relationships. Thus, in both subject matter and result, Lawrence and Glucksberg appear far apart.

  READ MORE    //  VIEW PDF
& Other Current Events

How the Gun-Free School Zones Act Saved the Individual Mandate

  For all the drama surrounding the Commerce Clause challenge to the individual mandate provision...

Citing Orin Kerr from MLR Volume 102, the Court addresses the controversy over GPS trackers and the Fourth Amendment

The Supreme Court's opinion in United States v. Jones, on GPS trackers and the Fourth Amendment, cited...

Inside Agency Preemption

A subtle shift has taken place in the mechanics of preemption, the doctrine that determines when federal...

Criminal Sanctions in the Defense of the Innocent

  Under the formal rules of criminal procedure, fact finders are required to apply a uniform standard...

On Strict Liability Crimes: Preserving a Moral Framework for Criminal Intent in an Intent-Free Moral World

The law has long recognized a presumption against criminal strict liability. This Note situates that...
MAILING LIST
Sign Up to Join Our Mailing List