What is the legal liability of parole board members and staff for acts committed by persons on community supervision? The answer is affected largely by whether the particular official involved enjoys absolute, rather than qualified, immunity, but again, the matter remains unsettled. These issues and others should be resolved promptly. (Author)

This paper presents comments on Kassin's review, (see record 2005-03019-002) of the psychology of false confessions. The authors note that Kassin's review makes a compelling argument for the need for legal reform in police interrogation practices. Because his work strikes at the heart of the American criminal justice system--its fairness--the…

This paper responds to a court brief of amici curiae asserting that mental retardation reduces culpability in capital offenses. The paper argues that the position makes unwarranted categorical assumptions about mental retardation, fails to consider individualized and situation-specific determinants of culpability, and undermines respect and value…

The authors use a developmental perspective to examine questions about the criminal culpability of juveniles and the juvenile death penalty. Under principles of criminal law, culpability is mitigated when the actor's decision-making capacity is diminished, when the criminal act was coerced, or when the act was out of character. The authors argue…

The expertise of special educators can aid in providing justice for criminal defendants with mental retardation in such areas as identification of mental retardation, evaluations and habilitation concerning competence to stand trial or enter plea agreements, and provision of services to defendants in corrections programs. (Author/DB)

Four responses and a rebuttal are presented to EC 603 716, focusing on "protections" from the state for individuals with mental retardation, the vulnerability of individuals with mental retardation, the need to take individual abilities into account, and the unusual uncertainty in determining the justice of the verdict imposing the death penalty.…

Two case studies involving possible violations of the rights of Spanish speaking criminal suspects are presented. In cases where suspects do not understand English, the Miranda warnings regarding the right to remain silent must be delivered in their native language and in a way that is understandable to the suspects. In the two cases involving…

To aid colleges and universities in protecting students and other potential victims of crime, a general analysis of the pertinent case law concerning institutional tort liability for campus crime is provided. The analysis of case law explains that lawsuits are usually based on the theory of negligence. Negligence consists of four elements: duty;…

The great waves of foreign immigration, the onset of rapid industrialization, the emergence of an urban working class--all features of the post Civil War United States that might have contributed to rising crime rates--did not. Ted Robert Gurr suggests that a growth of the "civilizing process" occurred in which people turned away from violence and…

This paper describing offenders and components of the criminal justice system is the second of the five-part Comprehensive Community-Based Services for Offenders Information PAK that provides guidelines for developing a system to improve exoffender service delivery. (Parts 1 and 3, which also contain printed information, are available separately.)…