Court clarifies indefinite issues in criminal cases

Article Abstract:

The criminal law cases decided in the 1991 US Supreme Court term created few guidelines, they mostly eliminated exceptions by imposing constitutional conditions on what had been the domain of state law. In many of the cases decided, the specific issues were addressed while preserving the ability of law enforcement officers to continue to use methods such as sting operations and involuntary medication. Other cases involved preemptory challenges to alter racial makeup of juries and a prison beating. The four cases discussed are Jacobson v US, Riggins v Nevada, Hudson v McMillan and Georgia v McCollum.

Surveys, United States. Supreme Court

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Criminal decisions stayed narrow; the few cases with a broader relevance to criminal practice deal with evidence and jury bias

Article Abstract:

The legislature has in the 1990s passed much legislation with a "get tough" approach to law enforcement, and much of the Supreme Court's criminal law docket involves trying to interpret how a body of ambiguous, poorly drafted legislation can be enforced constitutionally. The ban on polygraph evidence of United States v. Scheffer and the Campbell v. Louisiana opinion dealing with racial bias in state criminal justice administration are among the few deicisions of the 1997-98 term which are more broadly relevant to state and federal criminal practice.

Criminal justice, Administration of, Administration of criminal justice, Discrimination in criminal justice administration, Criminal justice discrimination, Lie detectors and detection, Lie detector tests

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Criminal cases made no huge waves; but court issued major rulings on the confrontation clause, habeas corpus, other issues

Article Abstract:

The 1998-99 US Supreme Court term included no headline-making criminal law rulings, which may come next term with the anticipated revisiting of Miranda, but did have important rulings on the confrontation clause, an interpretation of the continuing criminal enterprise statute, habeas corpus and other criminal law issues.

United States, Habeas corpus, Confrontation (Criminal law), Confrontation (Law)

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