This article describes interaction in a criminal (adult) court in which adolescents are punished. As a result of the particular set of courtroom dynamics and the youthfulness of the defendants in this court, two potentially conflicting ideas about punishment are expressed concurrently: (1) proportionality, and (2) reduced culpability among youth. I demonstrate how judges talk to adolescent defe...

The right to represent oneself at trial is well-established, but not absolute. Recently, in Indiana v. Edwards, the United States Supreme Court considered whether states may demand a higher standard of competence for criminal defendants seeking to represent themselves at trial than that necessary for standing trial with attorney representation. Ultimately, the Court ruled that the Constitution ...

Previous research has investigated the characteristics of competent and incompetent defendants and restorable and nonrestorable defendants. However, less is known about the influence of current treatment variables and other systemic factors on restorability. In the present study, we sought to examine the impact of demographic, criminogenic, historical clinical, and current treatment variables o...

Multidistrict litigation procedures have grown in significance as an important tool for resolving large-scale litigation. Indeed, in recent years, various reports have noted that from one third to one half of all cases in the federal courts are part of MDL proceedings.1 From the defendants’ perspective, consolidation in a federal MDL proceeding may make nationwide litigation more manageable. Fr...

The Supreme Court has explored the issues of culpability, proportionality, and deserved punishment most fully in the context of capital punishment. In death penalty decisions addressing developmental impairments and culpability, the Court has considered the cases of defendants with mental retardation and older adolescents, and has created an anomalous inconsistency by reaching opposite conclusi...

Competency to stand trial adjudication is a decision point in the criminal justice system at which gender bias may result in different outcomes for female defendants as compared with males. However, this is an unexplored research area that lacks well-designed studies. The goals of this investigation, which used the largest known sample of U.S. female competency to stand trial defendants studied...

How should corporate law deal with a controlling person's entry into a transaction with the corporation she controls? How should corporate law deal with transactions or decisions where one or more board members are interested? In this Article, we argue that Delaware law could do a better job answering these questions than it presently does. We propose a modest strengthening ofjudicial review of...

It is argued in this paper that a doctor cannot serve two masters. The work of the prison medical officer is examined and it is shown that his dual allegiance to the state and to those individuals who are under his care results in activities which largely favour the former. The World Health Organisation prescribes a system of health ethics which indicates, in qualitative terms, the responsibili...