| Credit Hours: | |
| Description: | This seminar will explore the statutory and constitutional rules regarding the imposition of criminal punishment in the United States. The course will begin with a discussion of the various purposes of criminal punishment. Then, using both federal and state regulations as our guide, we will explore such issues as: the roles of the various actors (legislatures, commissions, parole boards, prosecutors, judges, and juries) in the sentencing process; the use of sentencing guidelines; constitutional constraints on the use of both capital and carceral punishment; assessing the characteristics of the offense and the offender that go into the sentencing decision; constitutional constraints on the sentencing proceeding; and alternatives to traditional forms of incarceration. Traditional class discussion will be supplemented with in-class exercises in which students take on the roles of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, legislators, and sentencing commissioners. Each student will also argue a case on a current sentencing issue before a bench composed of the other students and the instructor. As a final project, each student will then write a judicial opinion and a dissent or concurrence totaling at least 25 pages, including footnotes, resolving that issue. |
| Prerequisite: | None |
Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Office of Admissions
1 Nunn Drive, 216 Nunn Hall
Highland Heights, KY 41099
859-572-5490
