I Hate Self-Care: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Lament
Don’t get me wrong—I think people should take care of themselves. They should eat well, exercise regularly, and get a good night’s sleep. They should spend time with friends and […]
The Civil Death Penalty: How Life Without Parole Has Become America’s Favorite Inhumane Answer to Crime
Sitting in a cell as you age, through the death of family members, the birth of children and grandchildren, you are stuck. You “feel[] like you have been sentenced to […]
A Noxious Echo: How Nitrogen Hypoxia Evokes Images of the Gas Chamber and Pushes the Bounds of the Eighth Amendment
In 2024, the United States turned back the clock and returned to a tradition unheard of in much of the world: death by lethal gas. A decade of botched executions […]
When Cooperation Equals Control: What Criminal Defendants and Their Counsel Need to Know To Seek Discovery from Cooperators Through the Government
Among the strongest weapons criminal defendants can arm themselves with for trial is evidence that undermines the credibility of the government’s cooperators, particularly when that evidence comes from the cooperators […]
Letter from the Editor
The American Criminal Law Review is proud to present the Volume 62 Symposium Issue, Disability and the Criminal Legal System. Our Symposium aimed to promote conversation around an underrepresented, yet […]
Disability Criminalization: A Primer
Disability criminalization occurs when individuals are exposed to criminal legal system involvement—whether stops, arrests, detention, discipline, and punishment—for engaging in behaviors, norms, and conduct linked to, or caused by, their […]
Creating Community Care: Decarceration Strategies in Competency Litigation
A disability justice approach to decarceration understands that jails and prisons exist on a spectrum of carcerality. This spectrum includes other forms of institutionalization, such that decarceration is one element […]
To Remedy Policy Misconduct, Federal Disability Law Is More Effective than the Constitution
People with disabilities are overpoliced and, as a result, disproportionately suffer injuries caused by police misconduct. Section 1983 is the primary vehicle for remedying injuries caused by police misconduct, but […]
Expanding Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in the Criminal Legal System Beyond Prisons and Jails
Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) are proven to save lives. Yet, too often, people who have contact with the criminal justice system are prohibited from accessing this lifesaving medical […]
An Equal Chance to Succeed: Challenging Barriers for Disabled People on Probation and Parole
Probation, parole, and other forms of post-conviction supervision are challenging for anyone, requiring strict adherence to dozens of complex rules under threat of incarceration for any slip-up. For the high […]
Prison Medical Care and Disability Accommodation
In its 1996 opinion Bryant v. Madigan, the Seventh Circuit held that incarcerated plaintiffs could not challenge the prison’s failure to provide medical care under the Americans with Disabilities Act […]
Interwoven Remedies: The Healthcare-Disability Overlap in Gender-Affirming Care Behind Bars
This Article examines a dilemma in disability law in the prison context. The Seventh Circuit held in Bryant v. Madigan that a disability cannot be “treated” with medical care. That […]
A Liberty-Balancing Approach to Crime
At its core, the criminal legal system is an ecosystem of institutions that seek to balance liberty interests. The insightful theories and complex practices of crime policy coalesce around questions […]
Towards a Victim-Oriented Criminal Process
The figure of the victim has played a central role in the consolidation of a uniquely punitive criminal legal system. Over the last decades, however, multiple actors have raised serious […]
Terminating Supervision Early
Community supervision is a major form of criminal punishment and a major driver of mass incarceration. In 2022, over 3.5 million people in the United States were serving terms of […]
Unjust Bargains and Incomplete Solutions: Appellate Waiver Conditions in Capital Commutations
Clemency is often a death-sentenced inmate’s last hope for relief. Without it, the inmate must either hope for appellate success or, if they have exhausted their appeals, hope that the […]
Playing the Same Game: Why Prosecuting Robert Hanssen Requires Prosecuting Edward Snowden
There is often a stark divide in the public’s discussion of the legal and moral culpability of spies and leakers. In common parlance, spies are duplicitous individuals who are sent […]
Crafting A Clearer Definition of "Instrumentality" After United States v. Esquenazi
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is the cornerstone of the global fight against corruption, and it has served as the inspiration for many of the anti-bribery frameworks in other […]
The "Pardonability" of Inherent Contempt and Statutory Criminal Contempt of Congress
Recent political events have highlighted questions surrounding both the President’s pardon power and Congress’ contempt power. Two aides to President Donald J. Trump were convicted of criminal contempt of Congress—Steve […]
Abolishing Felony Murder: An Empirical Perspective
The felony-murder rule is a problematic anomaly in American law. The rule imposes convictions for murder—often first-degree murder—on individuals who neither killed nor intended for someone to die. Such individuals […]
Erasing the Victims of Corporate Crime
A casual observer would be excused for thinking that corporate crimes are generally victimless. Even an informed observer would be hard-pressed to articulate how, if at all, the criminal justice […]