In the nearly two-decade long “War on Terror,” the United States military has developed two methods of neutralizing enemy combatants. The first is targeting and killing. The second is capture and detention. There are two main justifications for “capture and detention”. First, ...

Jus in bello is the international law that governs the way armed conflict proceeds. Latin for “law in war”, jus in bello consists of rules relating to proper and improper kinds of weapons and military tactics, and rules relating to the treatment of ...

The appellate courts have fundamentally different roles than do trial courts.  They serve as safeguards to ensure that significant judicial errors in the courts below can be corrected.  However, procedural rules limit when the appellate courts can decide whether a ...

Appellate Review of Convictions Defendants convicted of criminal offenses have the right to appeal their convictions or their sentences.[1]  An appeal is a defendant’s request that an unfavorable ruling be reviewed.  The right to appeal is established by statute or ...

Historically, judges have had very broad discretion when sentencing criminal defendants.  The only guidance provided by the Eighth Amendment is that “excessive fines” and “cruel and unusual punishments” are prohibited.[1]  Broad judicial discretion has naturally led to criminal sentences across the country ...

The sentencing hearing is one of the “critical stages” of a criminal prosecution, according to the Supreme Court.[1]  Judges must decide what sentence to impose on each criminal defendant that comes before them to ensure that justice is served.  This module will ...

Criminal laws and procedures exist to provide a defined set of rules to help ensure an orderly and safe society.  These rules authorize the government to impose punishment upon those who break them. This government-sanctioned punishment is called a sentence. Sentencing ...

The Federal RICO Act Racketeering is a difficult-to-define word that is often used in the context of organized crime. Loosely, it means engaging in a pattern of illegal activity in furtherance of an organization or enterprise.[1] Racketeering is sometimes hard to ...

Obstruction of Justice Obstruction of justice is criminalized under the federal criminal code by a combination of many statutes that pertain to different forms of interference with the judicial system. Section 1503, though entitled “Influencing or Injuring Officer or Juror ...

False statements             Federal law features prohibitions against falsifying and obstructing federal officials in their investigations. No provisions does this more broadly than Section 1001 of the federal criminal code, which makes it a felony to, “in any matter within the ...