Criminal Law

PODCAST: What to Expect from the United States Supreme Court With Professor Barry Friedman

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On this week’s episode of the Touro Law Review Podcast, we are joined by New York University Law School Professor Barry Friedman, an expert on the Supreme Court and public opinion, discusses the current Supreme Court.  According to the Pew Research Center, “Americans’ ratings of the Supreme Court are now as negative as – and more politically polarized than – at any point in more than three decades of polling on the nation’s highest court.”  (See Views of Supreme Court Far Less Positive After Abortion Ruling Reversing Roe v. Wade | Pew Research Center.)       

Professor Friedman puts this research in historical context, noting that the public’s view of the Court has waxed and waned over time.  During the New Deal, for example, the public’s view of the Court declined during its clash with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the mid-1930s.  Professor Friedman explains why he believes the situation with the Court today may be different from dips in public opinion in prior eras.  He suggests that this may be due, in part, to the erosion of political checks on the Court that previously were stronger.  Along the way, Professor Friedman and Associate Dean Rodger Citron discuss a number of the current justices and some of the most important cases of the Court’s 2021-22 term.

      

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Professor Barry Friedman.

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PODCAST: Robin Peguero: With Prejudice

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On this week’s episode of the Touro Law Review Podcast, Associate Dean Rodger Citron talks with Robin Peguero about his first novel, With Prejudice, and his views about the criminal justice system.  After graduating from Harvard Law School, Peguero worked as a prosecutor in Miami, an experience he drew on while writing the novel.       

The conversation begins with Peguero talking about his life-long interest in writing stories.  It then turns to a discussion of the jury – its critical role in a trial, its composition (which is intensely contested by the lawyers trying the case before them), and its operation.  What do we mean when we talk about “a jury of our peers?”  To what extent does deliberation give us confidence in the jury’s verdict?  Peguero addresses these questions and others during the conversation, exploring them from his perspective as a lawyer and a writer.      

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Robin Peguero.

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PODCAST: Part One -“Hitting the Trifecta” With the Hon. Mark D. Cohen

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The Hon. Mark D. Cohen has been a prosecutor, a judge, and now, in private practice, a defense attorney.  In short, he has hit the trifecta as a trial attorney.  In the first part of this podcast, Judge Cohen joins Associate Dean Rodger Citron to talk about his very interesting and rewarding career in the law.  Among the highlights:  As a young man, Judge Cohen trained as a cellist before deciding to go to law school.  After an extended stint in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, he served as the Deputy Director and Chief Counsel of the New York State Department of Homeland Security – perhaps the most challenging position he ever has held.  Throughout the discussion, Judge Cohen makes the case for going to law school and for a career in public service.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review. 

Our guest today is Hon. Mark D. Cohen.

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The Cost of Transparency

TLR BLOG

By Jake Falk

This paper was originally written in January 2022 as part of an independent research assignment.

            On May 25, 2020, during the course of an arrest, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.[1]  While Mr. Floyd was handcuffed on the ground, Officer Chauvin placed Mr. Floyd in a restraint by kneeling on the back of his neck.[2]  A bystander recorded a video which showed Officer Chauvin’s knee on the back of Mr. Floyds neck for almost ten minutes.[3]  After several minutes, Mr. Floyd stopped moving, became unresponsive, and was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.[4]  It was later determined that Mr. Floyd’s death was caused by Officer Chauvin’s restraint, which caused him to suffocate.[5]  Throughout Officer Chauvin’s nineteen-years with the Minneapolis Police Department, there were twenty-two complaints filed against him.[6]  The nature of those complaints ranged from offenses, such as showing up late to work, to using excessive force.[7]

            George Floyd’s death sparked nationwide and even global protests.  People across the United States were calling for change in police practice and for more accountability on the part of police officers.[8]  Protesters and civil rights groups demanded more transparency into the nations police agencies and legislators at all levels were quickly pressured by the public to consider police reform, as well as implement or change current laws, particularly in New York. [9]  On May 28, 2020, three days following Mr. Floyd’s death, New York lawmakers gathered to vote on a bill that would ultimately repeal Civil Rights Law § 50-a,[10] a law that made police personnel records confidential. Once the committee approved the bill, it was sent to both the Senate and the Assembly where the proposed bill was passed on June 9, 2020.[11]  Then, on June 12, 2020, only eighteen days following the death of Mr. Floyd, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill, thereby repealing Civil Rights Law § 50-a.[12]

            Although the repeal of Civil Rights Law § 50-a was supported by many, it was rushed and failed to consider all the consequences it would have on the criminal justice system and the legal system as a whole.  Section II of this paper will explain what Civil Rights Law § 50-a was prior to its’ repeal and will explore the legislature’s intent when it was first enacted.  Section III will then expand on why the law was ultimately repealed and Section IV will analyze the effect of its’ repeal, using a case law analysis.  This will be followed by a discussion of what is included in police disciplinary records and what amongst those records can be used for impeachment purposes.  Section VII will address the overarching question of whether all findings in disciplinary records provide defense attorneys with a good faith basis for impeachment.  Finally, Section VIII will draw the conclusion that the rush to repeal Civil Rights Law § 50-a, resulted in legislature failing to consider how the repeal would affect the prosecution’s discovery obligations under the newly enacted discovery laws put into effect on January 1, 2020, six months before §50-a was repealed.

Read or download the full text of the article below.

TheCostofTransparency-2Download

[1] Jerry Holt, George Floyd is Killed By A Police Officer, Igniting Historic Protests, History (last updated June 25, 2021), https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-floyd-killed-by-police-officer.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Witness Contact Form at 3, State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin, 2020 Minn. Dist. LEXIS 443 (Aug. 28, 2020) (No. 27-CR-12646, 27-CR-20-12949, 27-CR-20-12953, 27-CR-20-12951).

[6] Kim Barker & Serge F. Kovaleski, Officer Who Pressed His Knee on George Floyd’s Neck Drew Scrutiny Long Before, N.Y. Times (last updated Mar. 29, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html.

[7] Id.

[8] Patrice Taddonio, George Floyd’s Murder and Police Accountability, One Year Later: Our Coverage, at a Glance, FrontLine (May 25, 2021), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/george-floyd-murder-one-year-later-police-accountability.

[9] Nicquel Terry Ellis, Activists see progress after George Floyd’s death but say more must be done, USA Today (last updated Aug. 24, 2020), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/08/23/black-lives-matter-reforms-stalled-3-months-after-george-floyds-death/3337330001.

[10] NY S.B. 8674 (2020).

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

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PODCAST: Selling Sex: (More) Evidence for Decriminalization

TLR BLOG

Listen to our latest podcast where Mr. Block discusses his co-authored publication Selling Sex: (More) Evidence for Decriminalization. Mr. Block discusses analyzing sex work from the point of view of the same labor economics that would be applied to any other industry, rather than as a romanticized or demonized group of sexual deviants, finding destigmatization of the sex work industry as central to the increased agency and well-being of sex workers and their clients. The full text of Faelynn Carroll and Mr. Block’s article can be found here.

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review. 

Our guest today is Walter Block.

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