Prosecutorial administration: Prosecutor bias and the department of justice

Virginia Law Review

Volumn 99, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 271-342

  Barkow, Rachel E ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84876941066     PISSN: 00426601     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (130)

1. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary 14 (2011), available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year- end/2011year-end report.pdf.
2. Paul J. Hofer, The Reset Solution, 20 Fed. Sent'g Rep. 349, 350 (2008).
3. See Paul Guerino et al., Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Ser. No. NCJ 236096, Prisoners in 2010, at 14 (2011), available at http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p10.pdf.
4. William J. Stuntz, The Pathological Politics of Criminal Law, 100 Mich. L. Rev. 505, 508 (2001);
5. See also Rachel E. Barkow, Administering Crime, 52 UCLA L. Rev. 715, 734-35 (2005) [hereinafter Barkow, Administering Crime].
6. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, "[i]n fiscal year 2009, more than 96 percent of all offenders [pleaded guilty], a rate that has been largely the same for ten years." Glenn R. Schmitt, U.S. Sentencing Comm'n, Overview of Federal Criminal Cases: Fiscal Year 2009, at 3 (2010), available at http://www.ussc.gov/Research/Research-Publications/2010/20101230-FY09-Overview- Federal-Criminal-Cases.pdf.
7. See Rachel E. Barkow, Institutional Design and the Policing of Prosecutors: Lessons from Administrative Law, 61 Stan. L. Rev. 869, 876-77 (2009) [hereinafter Barkow, Institutional Design] (noting that "prosecutors often have a choice of charges, which often, in turn, administrameans a choice of sentence as well" and that "a prosecutor's decision about what charges to bring and what plea to accept amounts to a final adjudication in most criminal cases").
8. Letter from Jon M. Sands, Fed. Pub. Defender, to Hon. Ricardo H. Hinojosa, Chair, U.S. Sentencing Comm'n 3 (Sept. 8, 2008), available at http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics-sentencing/USSC-Priorities-ltr-with- appendix-9-8-08.pdf
9. See Letter from John M. Sands, Federal Public Defender, to Hon. Ricardo H. Hinojosa, Chair, U.S. Sentencing Comm'n 1 (July 31, 2007), available at http://www.famm.org/Repository/Files/USSC-Letter-Victims-Advisory-Group-7-31-07. pdf
10. see also The Smart on Crime Coal., Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Administration and Congress 129 (2011), available at http://www. besmartoncrime.org/pdf/Complete.pdf
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25. Monahan v. Winn, 276 F. Supp. 2d 196, 205 n.9 (D. Mass. 2003) (Gertner, J.)
26. Goldings v. Winn, 383 F.3d 17, 24, 28 (1st Cir. 2004).
27. See Goldings, 383 F.3d at 19 (concluding that the new policy is contrary to the plain meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) (2000));
28. Elwood v. Jeter, 386 F.3d 842, 847 (8th Cir. 2004) (noting that "the BOP may place a prisoner in a CCC for six months, or more" and that the BOP has "the discretion to transfer prisoners to CCCs at any time during their incarceration");
29. Monahan v. Winn, 276 F. Supp. 2d 196, 199 (D. Mass. 2003) (citing examples).
30. Community Confinement, 70 Fed. Reg. 1659 (Jan. 10, 2005) (codified at 28 C.F.R. § 570 (2011));
31. See also Muniz v. Sabol, 517 F.3d 29, 33 (1st Cir. 2008)
32. 18 U.S.C.A § 3624(c)(1) (West 2012).
33. Margaret Colgate Love, Of Pardons, Politics and Collar Buttons: Reflections on the President's Duty to Be Merciful, 27 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1483, 1489 n.26 (2000)
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35. See generally Nancy V. Baker, Conflicting Loyalties: Law and Politics in the Attorney General's Office, 1789-1990, at 3, 51-52 (1992);
36. Cornell W. Clayton, The Politics of Justice: The Attorney General and the Making of Legal Policy 16, 48 (1992).
37. Margaret Colgate Love, Reinventing the President's Pardon Power, 20 Fed. Sent'g Rep. 5, 6 (2007) [hereinafter Love, Reinventing].
38. P.S. Ruckman, Jr., provides a comprehensive table of the number of pardons requested, granted, and denied by each administration from 1900 to 1993, in Executive Clemency in the United States: Origins, Development, and Analysis (1900-1993), 27 Presidential Stud. Q. 251, 261, 263 (1997).
39. Margaret Colgate Love, The Twilight of the Pardon Power, 100 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1169, 1185 (2010) [hereinafter Love, Twilight].
40. Of the sixteen attorneys general who have served from 1969 to the present (2013), only four lacked prosecutorial experience. Those with prosecutorial experience either worked as prosecutors in the Department of Justice (with four having been Deputy Attorneys General), in state AG offices, or as state prosecutors. Attorneys General of the United States 1789- Present, U.S. Dep't of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/ag/aghistlist.php.
41. Margaret Colgate Love, Taking a Serious Look at "Second Look" Sentencing Reforms, 21 Fed. Sent'g Rep. 149, 150 (2009).
42. Margaret Colgate Love, The Pardon Paradox: Lessons of Clinton's Last Pardons, 31 Cap. U. L. Rev. 185, 198 (2003).
43. I based the calculations on data from Presidential Clemency Actions by Administration (1945 to Present), U.S. Dep't of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/ pardon/actions-administration.htm.
44. Obama: More Dubious Pardon History-Making, Pardon Power Blog (Jan. 24, 2013, 7:20 PM), http://www.pardonpower.com/.
45. See Mark Motivans, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Ser. No. NCJ 234184, Federal Justice Statistics, 2009, at 17, available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs09.pdf.
46. See John Edgar Hoover, Civil Liberties and Law Enforcement: The Role of the FBI, 37 Iowa L. Rev. 175, 184 n.8 (1952).
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65. Spencer S. Hsu, Defendants Left Unaware of Flaws Found in Cases, Wash. Post, Apr. 17, 2012, at A1. Donald Gates, for example, who was finally exonerated as a result of DNA testing in 2009, was never notified by D.C.
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67. See, e.g., Rick Casey, Houston: They All Have a Problem, Hous. Chron., Feb. 8, 2009, at B1;
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69. NDAA Message to Prosecutors Regarding the National Academy of Sciences Forensic Science Report, WIN Interactive, http://www.wininteractive.com/NDAA/ NAS.html
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71. Staff of S. Comm. on the Judiciary, 111th Cong., Preliminary Outline of Draft Forensic Reform Legislation (May 5, 2010), available at http://www.bulletpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Draft-Legislation.pdf.
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87. See Leslie B. Dubeck, Note, Understanding "Judicial Lockjaw": The Debate Over Extrajudicial Activity, 82 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 569 (2007)
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89. Rachel E. Barkow, The Politics of Forgiveness: Reconceptualizing Clemency, 21 Fed. Sent'g Rep. 153, 155 (2009)
90. Joseph E. Kennedy, Monstrous Offenders and the Search for Solidarity Through Modern Punishment, 51 Hastings L.J. 829, 892 (2000).
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93. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Treatment-efforts- credited-asprison-population-1750304.php
94. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/New-prison-policies- could-save-millions-1837907.php
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96. Rachel E. Barkow, Federalism and the Politics of Sentencing, 105 Colum. L. Rev. 1276, 1299-1312 (2005)
97. Right On Crime, http://www.rightoncrime.com/the-conservative-case-for- reform/statement-of-principles/
98. See Brown v. Plata, 131 S. Ct. 1910, 1932-34, 1937 (2011)
99. http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing-law-and-policy/2012/05/ a-year-after-plata-rulinga-picture-of-success-fixing-californias-overcrowded- prisons.html
100. John Dinan, The Pardon Power and the American State Constitutional Tradition, 35 Polity 389, 390 (2003).
101. Dafna Linzer & Jennifer LaFleur, A Racial Gap for Criminals Seeking Mercy, Wash. Post, Dec. 4, 2011, at A1, available at http://www.washingtonpost. com/investigations/propublica-review-of-pardons-in-past-decade-shows-process- heavily-favoredwhites/2011/11/23/gIQAElnVQO-story.html.
102. Joe Palazzolo, Despite Efforts, Pardon System Still Unchanged, Main Justice (Apr. 20, 2010, 6:55 PM), http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/04/20/despite- efforts-pardons-systemstill-unchanged/.
103. Dafna Linzer & Jennifer LaFleur, Presidential Pardons Heavily Favor Whites, ProPublica (Dec. 3, 2011, 11:00 PM), http://www.propublica.org/article/ shades-of-mercypresidential-forgiveness-heavily-favors-whites
104. See also Dafna Linzer, Inmate Still in Prison After Facts Kept from Bush Team, Wash. Post, May 14, 2012, at A1, available at http://www.washingtonpost. com/investigations/clarence-aaron-was-denied-commutationbut-bush-team-wasnt- told-all-the-facts/2012/05/13/gIQAEZLRNU-story.html
105. Dafna Linzer, Pardon Applicants Benefit From Friends in High Places, ProPublica (Dec. 4, 2011, 11:00 PM), http://www.propublica.org/article/pardon- applicants-benefitfrom-friends-in-high-places.
106. Dafna Linzer, Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy, ProPublica (May 13, 2012, 7:00 PM), http://www.propublica.org/article/pardon- attorney-torpedoesplea-for-presidential-mercy.
107. See, e.g., Azmat Khan, Why Was Clarence Aaron's Pardon Request Denied?, Frontline (May 14, 2012, 3:28 PM), http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ criminal-justice/whywas-clarence-aarons-pardon-request-denied/
108. Debra J. Saunders, When Will Obama Reform Presidential Pardons?, S.F. Chron., May 27, 2012, at E3, available at http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/ saunders/article/Obama-must-reform-presidential-pardons-3588734.php
109. Scott Horton, Blocking Pardons at Justice, Harper's (May 16, 2012, 9:20 AM), http://harpers.org/archive/2012/05/hbc-90008619/.
110. http://sentencing.typepad.com/files/062612-law-professor-letter-opa.pdf.
111. Margaret Colgate Love, Relief from the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction (2008 ed.), available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/ tmp/File/Virginia08.pdf
112. Congress OKs Fair Sentencing Act, UPI (July 28, 2010), available at http://www.upi.com/Top-News/US/2010/07/28/Congress-OKs-Fair-Sentencing-Act/ UPI-22641280367802/
113. http://www.slate.com/articles/news-and-politics/jurisprudence/2008/08/ csoy.html
114. http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/New-pressure-on-Mississippi- medical-examiner.php
115. Daniel S. Medwed, Innocentrism, 2008 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1549, 1549 (2008)
116. Robert J. Norris et al., "Than That One Innocent Suffer": Evaluating State Safeguards Against Wrongful Convictions, 74 Alb. L. Rev. 1301, 1327 tbl.2 (2010-2011).
117. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Council-hands-crime-lab- toindependent-board-3615078.php.
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120. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2103338;
121. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2125194
122. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet-department-justice
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124. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ jus.pdf
125. see also Evan P. Schultz, Does the Fox Control Pardons in the Henhouse?, 13 Fed. Sent'g Rep. 178 (2000-2001)
126. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/departments
127. http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/File/Collateral%20Consequences/ execsumm.pdf
128. Arkansas State Laboratory: About Us, Arkansas.gov, http://www.crimelab. arkansas.gov/aboutUs/Pages/default.aspx (last visited July 10, 2012).
129. David B. Spence, Administrative Law and Agency Policy-Making: Rethinking the Positive Theory of Political Control, 14 Yale J. on Reg. 407, 424 (1997).
130. http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/petitions.htm