Featured Acquisitions - January 2004

Featured Acquisitions - January 2005


		Cyber Criminals on Trial by Russell G. Smith, Peter Grabosky and Gregor Urbas Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004 KF220 .S63 2004 Balcony As computer-related crime becomes more widespread globally, both scholarly and journalistic accounts tend to focus on the ways in which the crime has been committed and how it could have been prevented. Very little has been written about what follows: the capture, possible extradition, prosecution, sentencing and incarceration of the cyber criminal. This book provides the first international study of the manner in which cyber-criminals have been dealt with by the judicial process in recent times. Some of the most prominent cases from around the globe have been presented in an attempt to discern trends in the disposition of cases and common factors and problems that emerged during the processes of prosecution, trial and sentencing. This is a valuable resource for all those who seek to recall the facts of some of the world’s most famous prosecutions and to know the reasons why particular sentences were imposed.
		Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America by Kathryn Sikkink Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2004 JC599.L3 S55 2004 Sohn Library Kathryn Sikkink believes that the adoption of human rights policy represents a positive change in the relationship between the United States and Latin America. In Mixed Signals she traces a gradual but remarkable shift in U.S. foreign policy over the last generation. By the 1970s, an unthinking anticommunist stance had tarnished the reputation of the U.S. government throughout Latin America, associating Washington with tyrannical and often brutally murderous regimes. Sikkink recounts the reemergence of human rights as a substantive concern, showing how external pressures from activist groups and the institution of a human rights bureau inside the State Department have combined to remake Washington’s agenda, and its image, in Latin America. The current war against terrorism, Sikkink warns, could repeat the mistakes of the past unless we insist that the struggle against terrorism be conducted with respect for human rights and the rule of law.
		The Transactlantic Constitution: Colonial Legal Culture and the Empire by Mary Sarah Bilder Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2004 KF4541 .B55 2004 Balcony Departing from traditional approaches to colonial legal history, Mary Sarah Bilder argues that American law and legal culture developed within the framework of an evolving, unwritten transatlantic constitution that lawyers, legislators, and litigants on both sides of the Atlantic understood. The central tenet of this constitution--that colonial laws and customs could not be repugnant to the laws of England but could diverge for local circumstances--shaped the legal development of the colonial world. Focusing on practices rather than doctrines, Bilder describes how the pragmatic and flexible conversation about this constitution shaped colonial law: the development of the legal profession; the place of English law in the colonies; the existence of equity courts and legislative equitable relief; property rights for women and inheritance laws; commercial law and currency reform; and laws governing religious establishment. Using as a case study the corporate colony of Rhode Island, which had the largest number of appeals of any mainland colony to the English Privy Council, she reconstructs a largely unknown world of pre-Constitutional legal culture.
		In the Interest of Justice: Great Opening and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years by Joel J. Seidemann New York : Regan Books, c2004 K181 .S45 2004 Balcony Drawing from some of the most well-known courtroom cases of our time, this rich and rewarding volume collects more than two dozen of the most memorable opening and closing arguments made by top prosecutors and defense attorneys in the last 100 years. Carefully selected to explore every major aspect and challenge of the legal process, the speeches showcased here highlight the tactics and strategies, colorful language, and stirring rhetoric that lawyers use to win judge and jury to their side. With a shrewd eye for courtroom stratagems and a keen understanding of the social currents that shape them, Manhattan assistant district attorney Joel Seidemann introduces and illuminates each speech from an insider's perspective. From an Israeli prosecutor's heart-wrenching speech against Adolf Eichmann to the chilling reenactment of Timothy McVeigh's meticulous planning of the Oklahoma City bombing, we witness the power of an impassioned presentation to tip the scales toward the fulfillment of justice. Arguments from other landmark trials are included to reveal the smartest tricks of the trial lawyer's trade. Why did O.J. win the criminal case and lose the civil one? Why did the jury acquit the cops who shot Amadou Diallo, even though they fired forty-one shots at an unarmed man? Why was Sean "Puffy" Combs acquitted of all charges after that mysterious shootout in a NYC nightclub? In the Interest of Justice sheds light on such questions and celebrates the fascinating art of courtroom persuasion.
		Excusing Crime by Jeremy Horder Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004 K5455 .H67 2004 Balcony When should someone who may have intentionally or knowingly committed criminal wrongdoing be excused? Excusing Crime examines what excusing conditions are, and why familiar excuses, such as duress, are thought to fulfil those conditions. The 'classical' view of excuses sees them as rational defects (such as mistake) in the motive force behind an action, but contrasts them with 'denials of responsibility', such as insanity, where the rational defect in that motive force is attributable to a mental defect in the agent him- or herself. This classical view of excuses has a long heritage, and is enshrined in different forms in many of the world's criminal codes, both liberal and non-liberal; however, in this book, Jeremy Horder contends that it is now time to move beyond it. Horder develops a 'liberal' account of excuses, arguing that the 'classical' distinction between rational defects and 'denials of responsibility' is too sharp, and also that the classical view of excuses is too narrow. He contends that it can be right to treat claims as excusatory even if they rely on a combination of elements of rational defect in the motive force behind the action, even if that defect is in part attributable to a mental deficiency in the agent him or herself ('diminished capacity'). Further, he argues that there can be a sound case for excuse even when people can give full rational assent to their actions, such as when they could not reasonably have been expected to do more than what they did to avoid committing wrongdoing ('due diligence'), or, more rarely, when their conscience understandably left them with no moral freedom to do other than commit the wrong ('demands-of-conscience').
		One Nation Under Law: America's Early National Struggles to Separate Church and State by Mark Douglas McGarvie DeKalb, Ill. : Northern Illinois University Press, c2004 KF4865 .M35 2004 Balcony The United States' commitment to separation of church and state has defined the nation, from the structure of the schools and the welfare system to the nature of American politics and society. Many citizens mistakenly point to the First Amendment, which guarantees the freedom of religious practice, as the origin of this separation. Indeed, the Bill of Rights represents a crucial step toward the division of religious institutions from the affairs of the government. Yet, from the days of the early republic, the separation of church and state came about slowly, amid contentious legal, intellectual, and religious debates. In this timely study, Mark McGarvie documents America's transition from Christian communitarianism with its government-sponsored religious institutions to liberal republicanism with its insistence that church and government not interfere with one another. Surprisingly, for a half-century after the ratification of the Constitution, many early state governments continued to support religious organizations. Disestablishment nonetheless proceeded, gaining ever greater momentum as churches lost tax support and found that they could not enforce mandatory attendance laws. No longer public institutions with strong state backing, churches were reconstructed as private, voluntary associations. At the same time, the state took responsibility for poor relief, community record keeping, and a variety of other public services formerly left to the churches. Providing a close-up view of disestablishment as both a legal and an ideological process, McGarvie focuses on the efforts of three key states—New York, South Carolina, and New Hampshire—to disentangle church and state during the early national period. These case studies are particularly enlightening because a single state's disestablishment crisis helped change the law for the entire nation when New Hampshire's attempt to convert Dartmouth College into a secular state institution ended in a suit that eventually reached the Supreme Court. One Nation under Law is an important contribution to an ongoing, distinctly American debate.
		Dworkin and His Critics: With Replies by Dworkin edited by Justine Burley Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2004 HM665 .D86 2004 Basement Dworkin and His Critics provides an in-depth, analytical discussion of Ronald Dworkin's ethical, legal and political philosophical writings, and it includes substantial replies from Dworkin himself. Includes substantial replies by Ronald Dworkin, a comprehensive bibliography of his work, and suggestions for further reading. Contributors include Richard Arneson, G. A. Cohen, Frances Kamm, Will Kymlicka, Philippe van Parijs, Eric Rakowski, Joseph Raz and Jeremy Waldron. Makes an important contribution to many on-going debates over abortion, euthanasia, the rule of law, distributive justice, group rights, political obligation, and genetics.
		The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager New York : Broadway Books, 2004 KJV8690.A82 J34 2004 Annex 3rd As the huge crowd seethed with pent-up excitement, the two deadly enemies studied each other intently, their breath hot behind their visors. Each sought the other’s death as fire and water seek each other’s annihilation. The walled field, at first a prison, now became a crucible where one man would be destroyed and the other purged in the name of justice. They would fight not only without quarter, but also without rules. And a horrible fate awaited the lady if her husband should lose . . . The gripping, atmospheric true story of the “duel to end all duels” in medieval France: a trial by combat pitting a knight against a squire accused of violating the knight’s beautiful young wife In 1386, a few days after Christmas, a huge crowd gathers at a Paris monastery to watch the two men fight a duel to the death meant to “prove” which man’s cause is right in God’s sight. The dramatic true story of the knight, the squire, and the lady unfolds during the devastating Hundred Years War between France and England, as enemy troops pillage the land, madness haunts the French court, the Great Schism splits the Church, Muslim armies threaten Christendom, and rebellion, treachery, and plague turn the lives of all into toys of Fortune. At the heart of the tale is Jean de Carrouges, a Norman knight who returns from combat in Scotland to find his wife, Marguerite, accusing Jacques LeGris, her husband’s old friend and fellow courtier, of brutally raping her. The knight takes his cause before the teenage King Charles VI, the highest judge in France. Amid LeGris’s vociferous claims of innocence and doubts about the now pregnant Marguerite’s charges (and about the paternity of her child), the deadlocked court decrees a “trial by combat” that leaves her fate, too, in the balance. For if her husband and champion loses the duel, she will be put to death as a false accuser. Carrouges and LeGris, in full armor, eventually meet on a walled field in Paris before a massive crowd that includes the king and many nobles of the realm. A fierce fight on horseback and then on foot ensues during which both combatants suffer wounds—but only one fatal. The violent and tragic episode was notorious in its own time because of the nature of the alleged crime, the legal impasse it provoked, and the resulting trial by combat, an ancient but increasingly suspect institution that was thereafter abolished. Based on extensive research in Normandy and Paris, The Last Duel brings to life a colorful, turbulent age and three unforgettable characters caught in a fatal triangle of crime, scandal, and revenge. It is at once a moving human drama, a captivating detective story, and an engrossing work of historical intrigue.
		Pirates of the Digital Millennium: How the Intellectual Property Wars Damage Our Personal Freedoms, Our Jobs, and the World Economy by John Gantz and Jack B. Rochester Upper Saddle River, NJ : Financial Times/Prentice Hall, c2005 K1485 .G36 2005 Balcony Digital piracy. It's a global war -- and it's just begun. Pirates of the Digital Millennium chronicles that war. All of it: media conglomerates vs. teenagers, tech companies vs. content providers, artists battling artists, nations vs. nations, law enforcement vs. organized crime. John Gantz and Jack Rochester cover every side and all the implications. Economics. Law. Ethics. Culture. The players. And above all, the realities -- including the exclusive new findings of a 57-country digital piracy research project. The media universe is shaking to its very foundations. This book helps you make sense of what's happening -- and what's next.
		Breaking Silence: The Case that Changed the Face of Human Rights by Richard Alan White Georgetown University Press : Washington, D.C., c2004 JC599.P3 W48 2004 Sohn Library Young seventeen-year-old Joelito Filártiga was taken from his family home in Asunción, Paraguay, brutally tortured, and murdered by the Paraguayan police. Breaking Silence is the inside story of the quest for justice by his father—the true target of the police—Paraguayan artist and philanthropist Dr. Joel Filártiga. That cruel death, and the subsequent uncompromising struggle by Joelito's father and family, led to an unprecedented sea change in international law and human rights. The author, Richard Alan White, first became acquainted with the Filártiga family in the mid-1970s while doing research for his dissertation on Paraguayan independence. Answering a distressed letter from Joelito's father, he returned to Paraguay and journeyed with the Filártiga family on their long and difficult road to redress. White gives the reader a compelling first-hand, participant-observer perspective, taking us into the family with him, to give witness to not only their agony and sorrow, but their resolute strength as well--strength that led to a groundbreaking million legal decision in Filártiga v. Peña. (Americo Norberto Peña-Irala was the Paraguayan police officer responsible for Joelito's abduction and murder, whom the Filártigas had arrested after finding him hiding in Brooklyn.) That landmark decision, based on the almost obscure Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, ruled that U.S. courts could accept jurisdiction in international cases—recognizing the right of foreign human rights victims to sue—even though the alleged violation occurred in another country by a non-American and against a non-American. So fundamentally has the Filártiga precedent changed the landscape of international human rights law, that it has served as the basis for nearly 100 progeny suits, and grown to encompass not only human rights abuses, but also violations of international environmental and labor rights law. Today, there are dozens of class action suits pending against corporate defendants ranging from oil conglomerates destroying the Amazon rainforest to designer clothing companies running sweatshops abroad.
		Un-Making Law: The Conservative Campaign to Roll Back the Common Law by Jay M. Feinman Boston : Beacon Press, c2004 KF394 .F45 2004 Balcony There is an undercover war going on in America that impacts everyone's life far more than has been reported. The conservative movement has been systematically turning back a century's worth of liberal gains and protections found in the common law—the areas of law that affect most of the everyday activities of ordinary people. Throughout the twentieth century, contract, property, and personal injury law evolved to take more account of social conditions and the needs of the less powerful members of American society. Contracts were interpreted in light of common sense, property ownership was subjected to reasonable-use provisions, and consumers were protected against dangerous products. But all that is changing. Conservatives have a clear agenda to turn back the clock on the common law to increase the rights of big business. Significant inroads have already protected gun manufacturers from lawsuits and hampered the government's protection of the environment, for example; more rollbacks are on the horizon. Although this aspect of the conservative agenda is not as visible as assaults on abortion rights and civil liberties, it may ultimately have even greater impact on our society. Jay M. Feinman's book is an accessible, eye-opening primer, full of vivid examples and case histories. It should be an important new issue in the election debates, and in our thinking about a just American society.
		Miranda: The Story of America's Right to Remain Silent by Gary L. Stuart Tucson : University of Arizona Press, c2004 KF224.M54 S78 2004 Balcony One of the most significant Supreme Court cases in U.S. history has its roots in Arizona and is closely tied to the state’s leading legal figures. Miranda has become a household word; now Gary Stuart tells the inside story of this famous case, and with it the legal history of the accused’s right to counsel and silence. Ernesto Miranda was an uneducated Hispanic man arrested in 1963 in connection with a series of sexual assaults, to which he confessed within hours. He was convicted not on the strength of eyewitness testimony or physical evidence but almost entirely because he had incriminated himself without knowing it—and without knowing that he didn’t have to. Miranda’s lawyers, John P. Frank and John F. Flynn, were among the most prominent in the state, and their work soon focused the entire country on the issue of their client’s rights. A 1966 Supreme Court decision held that Miranda’s rights had been violated and resulted in the now-famous "Miranda warnings." Stuart personally knows many of the figures involved in Miranda, and here he unravels its complex history, revealing how the defense attorneys created the argument brought before the Court and analyzing the competing societal interests involved in the case. He considers Miranda's aftermath—not only the test cases and ongoing political and legal debate but also what happened to Ernesto Miranda. He then updates the story to the Supreme Court’s 2000 Dickerson decision upholding Miranda and considers its implications for cases in the wake of 9/11 and the rights of suspected terrorists. Interviews with 24 individuals directly concerned with the decision—lawyers, judges, and police officers, as well as suspects, scholars, and ordinary citizens—offer observations on the case’s impact on law enforcement and on the rights of the accused. Ten years after the decision in the case that bears his name, Ernesto Miranda was murdered in a knife fight at a Phoenix bar, and his suspected killer was "Mirandized" before confessing to the crime. Miranda: The Story of America’s Right to Remain Silent considers the legacy of that case and its fate in the twenty-first century as we face new challenges in the criminal justice system.
		Standing Trial: Law and the Person in the Modern Middle East edited by Baudouin Dupret London ; New York : I.B. Tauris : Distributed in the United States by Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 KMC140 .S836 2004 Annex 1st Standing Trial focuses on the relationship between the law and the concept of the person in modern Arab societies. It directly addresses the questions of continuities, transformations and ruptures of such notions. Law performs a central function in revealing social and historical dynamics and in being itself a tool of its implementation. The introduction of Western-style legal systems partially led to a transposition of characteristics of centrality, individualism and secularism. Standing Trial is the first truly interdisciplinary study of its subject, combining legal, historical and socio-legal perspectives. It is a highly original and important contribution to the study both of the language of law and the history of law in the Middle East.