Book Description

Adjudicative Criminal Procedure and Racial Injustice brings a sustained emphasis on race to the traditional content of criminal procedure. Rather than a wholesale revision of the standard criminal procedure fare, it amply covers all the familiar subject matter areas while integrating into those topics the roles that racial prejudice and racial disparities have played and continue to play in the criminal justice system. The Adjudicative volume, from Chapters I, II, and VIII-XVI of Rehnquist/Maclin’s Criminal Procedure and Racial Injustice, looks closely at the role that race has played in the makeup of juries in criminal trials, including defense counsel’s ability to pursue voir dire questioning of potential jurors to screen for racial bias; the historical use by prosecutors of peremptory challenges to eliminate Black potential jurors, and the attempt to eliminate that practice by the Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky; and the perils of cross-race eyewitness identification in criminal trials. A secondary focus of the book is lawyering—the decisions and tactics of the prosecutors and defense lawyers that undergird the cases in the book. To that end, the plentiful Notes and Questions following the cases provoke thought and discussion not only on the relevant legal doctrine and the racial implications of the doctrine, but also on the choices made by the prosecutors and defense counsel. Benefits for instructors and students: Flexible organization Interesting, timely cases Sophisticated, robust notes and questions following each case Adjudicative chapters: The Right to Counsel and Criminal Defense—including claims for ineffective assistance of counsel and the chronic underfunding of public indigent defense The Prosecution Function—the enormous discretion, power and ethical responsibilities of that office Pleas and Plea Bargaining—which account for the resolution of over 95% of criminal cases without a trial or any substantial judicial involvement The Right to a Jury Trial—including a glimpse at the surprising results generated by an “originalist” perspective on the right Eyewitness Identification—the fallibility of which has become even clearer in the era of demonstrably wrongful convictions Incarceration—including a look at bail/pretrial detention and the racially unequal impacts of the death penalty and the legislative crack/cocaine disparity Two unconventional chapters—Discriminatory Enforcement, which considers, among other things, the high hurdles in making such claims; and The Department of Justice and the Prosecution of Civil Rights Crimes, which broadly examines DOJ enforcement policies from Reconstruction through notable police violence cases of the 21st century