Minor Convictions with Major Consequences

Minor Convictions with Major Consequences PDF Author: Jenelle Renee Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aliens
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Under U.S. immigration law, non-citizens with criminal convictions may be subject to removal from the country. One basis for removal is a conviction for an aggravated felony. The term "aggravated felony" conjures up images of particularly heinous crimes, and historically this term was applied only to serious felonies, but under current interpretations of the law, the term has been read expansively to include crimes that are neither felonies nor aggravated. In fact, even misdemeanor convictions for which the person has served no jail time may serve as a basis for one's removal from the United States. On the particular issue of a conviction in Virginia of misdemeanor assault and battery, federal courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") have not come to a final conclusion on whether it is an aggravated felony. Although it has not published decisions to serve as precedent on the issue, the BIA has issued a handful of unpublished decisions ruling in both directions. Some of the opinions indicate that Virginia Code Section 18.2-57.2 is a crime of violence, and therefore an aggravated felony. Others say it is not a crime of violence; leaving non-citizens in the dark on a legal issue of fundamental importance in their lives. Part II of this thesis examines the legislative history of the aggravated felony provision, through its various amendments, illustrating the drastic expansion of the provision despite limited debate or discussion of its implications. Part III discusses the state of the aggravated felony provision today. Part IV presents the practical results of the overly broad provision being enforced through the courts, with a particular focus on the example of Virginia misdemeanor convictions for assault and battery. Part V considers the approach courts have taken regarding misdemeanor assault and battery convictions as crimes of violence and contends that they should not be construed as such. This paper concludes that the BIA should publish a decision to serve as precedent on the issue and proposes how Congress can take appropriate action.

Minor Convictions with Major Consequences

Minor Convictions with Major Consequences PDF Author: Jenelle Renee Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aliens
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Under U.S. immigration law, non-citizens with criminal convictions may be subject to removal from the country. One basis for removal is a conviction for an aggravated felony. The term "aggravated felony" conjures up images of particularly heinous crimes, and historically this term was applied only to serious felonies, but under current interpretations of the law, the term has been read expansively to include crimes that are neither felonies nor aggravated. In fact, even misdemeanor convictions for which the person has served no jail time may serve as a basis for one's removal from the United States. On the particular issue of a conviction in Virginia of misdemeanor assault and battery, federal courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") have not come to a final conclusion on whether it is an aggravated felony. Although it has not published decisions to serve as precedent on the issue, the BIA has issued a handful of unpublished decisions ruling in both directions. Some of the opinions indicate that Virginia Code Section 18.2-57.2 is a crime of violence, and therefore an aggravated felony. Others say it is not a crime of violence; leaving non-citizens in the dark on a legal issue of fundamental importance in their lives. Part II of this thesis examines the legislative history of the aggravated felony provision, through its various amendments, illustrating the drastic expansion of the provision despite limited debate or discussion of its implications. Part III discusses the state of the aggravated felony provision today. Part IV presents the practical results of the overly broad provision being enforced through the courts, with a particular focus on the example of Virginia misdemeanor convictions for assault and battery. Part V considers the approach courts have taken regarding misdemeanor assault and battery convictions as crimes of violence and contends that they should not be construed as such. This paper concludes that the BIA should publish a decision to serve as precedent on the issue and proposes how Congress can take appropriate action.

Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction

Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction PDF Author: Margaret Colgate Love
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781539292913
Category : Criminals
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"No longer can any person involved in the criminal justice system ignore the vast array of restrictions and disqualifications that are triggered by a criminal conviction. Judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, probation officials and, of course, accused persons themselves must recognize that much more is at stake in a criminal prosecution than the court-imposed sentence. Even minor offenses trigger serious and potentially life-altering statutory and regulatory penalties. These so-called 'collateral consequences' are scattered throughout statutes, regulations, and municipal ordinances. They are difficult to find, and are too frequently ignored during plea negotiations and at sentencing. When it becomes apparent how many opportunities and privileges have been lost as a result of a conviction there may be little the convicted person can do about it. For this reason, collateral consequences have become an increasingly important part of civil practice areas as diverse as employment, government contracts, civil rights, immigration, housing, and family law. This volume seeks to ensure that the parties involved in a criminal case can identify and understand the full range of disabilities and disqualifications that accompany conviction. It also seeks to provide a comprehensive resource for civil practitioners whose clients are seeking to mitigate the effects of collateral consequences, as well as policy advocates and public officials seeking to reform the way the legal system treats those with a conviction record."--Page ix.

Fundamental Rights and Legal Consequences of Criminal Conviction

Fundamental Rights and Legal Consequences of Criminal Conviction PDF Author: Sonja Meijer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509920994
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
The legal position of convicted offenders is complex, as are the social consequences that can result from a criminal conviction. After they have served their sentences, custodial or not, convicted offenders often continue to be subject to numerous restrictions, in many cases indefinitely, due to their criminal conviction. In short, criminal convictions can have adverse legal consequences that may affect convicted offenders in several aspects of their lives. In turn, these legal consequences can have broader social consequences. Legal consequences are often not formally part of the criminal law, but are regulated by different areas of law, such as administrative law, constitutional law, labour law, civil law, and immigration law. For this reason, they are often obscured from judges as well as from defendants and their legal representatives in the courtroom. The breadth, severity and longevity and often hidden nature of these restrictions raises the question of whether offenders' fundamental rights are sufficiently protected. This book explores the nature and extent of the legal consequences of criminal convictions in Europe, Australia and the USA. It addresses the following questions: What legal consequences can a criminal conviction have? How do these consequences affect convicted offenders? And how can and should these consequences be limited by law?

From Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime

From Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime PDF Author: Rolf Loeber
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199828164
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
What makes a juvenile delinquent develop into an adult criminal? Edited by two leading authorities in the fields of psychology and criminology, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime examines why the period of transition to adulthood is important and how it can be better understood and addressed both inside and outside of the justice system. With serious scholarly analysis and practical policy proposals, this book addresses what can be done to ensure that today's juvenile delinquents do not become tomorrow's adult criminals.

Handbook on the Consequences of Sentencing and Punishment Decisions

Handbook on the Consequences of Sentencing and Punishment Decisions PDF Author: Beth M. Huebner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429881460
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
Handbook on the Consequences of Sentencing and Punishment Decisions, the third volume in the Routledge ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Series, includes contemporary essays on the consequences of punishment during an era of mass incarceration. The Handbook Series offers state-of-the-art volumes on seminal and topical issues that span the fields of sentencing and corrections. In that spirit, the editors gathered contributions that summarize what is known in each topical area and also identify emerging theoretical, empirical, and policy work. The book is grounded in the current knowledge about the specific topics, but also includes new, synthesizing material that reflects the knowledge of the leading minds in the field. Following an editors’ introduction, the volume is divided into four sections. First, two contributions situate and contextualize the volume by providing insight into the growth of mass punishment over the past three decades and an overview of the broad consequences of punishment decisions. The overviews are then followed by a section exploring the broader societal impacts of punishment on housing, employment, family relationships, and health and well-being. The third section centers on special populations and examines the unique effects of punishment for juveniles, immigrants, and individuals convicted of sexual or drug-related offenses. The fourth section focuses on institutional implications with contributions on jails, community corrections, and institutional corrections.

 PDF Author:
Publisher: Soffer Publishing
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description


Punishment Without Crime

Punishment Without Crime PDF Author: Alexandra Natapoff
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465093809
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
A revelatory account of the misdemeanor machine that unjustly brands millions of Americans as criminals. Punishment Without Crime offers an urgent new interpretation of inequality and injustice in America by examining the paradigmatic American offense: the lowly misdemeanor. Based on extensive original research, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff reveals the inner workings of a massive petty offense system that produces over 13 million cases each year. People arrested for minor crimes are swept through courts where defendants often lack lawyers, judges process cases in mere minutes, and nearly everyone pleads guilty. This misdemeanor machine starts punishing people long before they are convicted; it punishes the innocent; and it punishes conduct that never should have been a crime. As a result, vast numbers of Americans -- most of them poor and people of color -- are stigmatized as criminals, impoverished through fines and fees, and stripped of drivers' licenses, jobs, and housing. For too long, misdemeanors have been ignored. But they are crucial to understanding our punitive criminal system and our widening economic and racial divides. A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018

Prosecuting Collateral Consequences

Prosecuting Collateral Consequences PDF Author: Eisha Jain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Criminal law scholars have long agreed that prosecutors wield vast and largely unreviewable discretion in the criminal justice system. This Article argues that this discretion now extends beyond criminal penalties and broadly reaches civil public policy decisions, such as deportation and licensing. As a result of ubiquitous plea bargaining and collateral consequences -- state-imposed civil penalties that are triggered by criminal convictions -- prosecutors can deliberately exercise discretion to trigger or avoid important civil consequences. This aspect of prosecutorial discretion has been underexamined, partly because of a lack of awareness of collateral consequences. But as a result of important new initiatives designed to promote information about collateral consequences, prosecutors as well as defendants are becoming more likely to know that even minor convictions can trigger much more serious civil penalties. As some commentators have pointed out, prosecutors who are aware of collateral consequences may have powerful incentives to drop charges or otherwise structure pleas to minimize the likelihood of certain collateral consequences. But importantly, prosecutors also have strong structural incentives to take the opposite approach and reach pleas to maximize the likelihood of civil penalties. For some prosecutors, enforcing collateral consequences serves as an administratively efficient substitute for a criminal conviction, as a source of leverage, as a way to circumvent the requirements of criminal procedure, as a means of achieving deterrence or retribution, or as a way to promote their own public policy preferences. This Article develops an analytic framework for understanding the structural incentives that lead prosecutors to influence collateral consequences; exposes legal and ethical problems associated with plea bargaining in light of collateral consequences; and argues that collateral consequences can undermine important interests in transparency and accountability.

Short-term Rehabilitation for Persons Convicted of Driving While Intoxicated

Short-term Rehabilitation for Persons Convicted of Driving While Intoxicated PDF Author: Richard E. Boyatzis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alcoholics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description


Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Model Rules of Professional Conduct PDF Author: American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781590318737
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.