LDF’s Sam Spital in National Law Journal Op-Ed: The US Supreme Court Should Stop the Execution of a Man Sentenced, in Part, Because He’s Black
Keith Tharpe (Tharpe v. Sellers (138 S.Ct. 545, 199 L.Ed.2d 424, 18 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 224, 2018 Daily Journal D.A.R. 224, 27 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 17) was sentenced to death by a racist jury evidenced by statements made in a signed affidavit by jurors. For years lower courts blocked Tharpe's appeals until the night of his execution when the Supreme Court stepped in. This article discusses other cases where race has also been found to be a significant factor in death row sentencing. Tharpe’s case is once again pending before the Supreme Court with a petition seeking review of the Eleventh Circuit’s recent ruling.
LDF’s Sam Spital in National Law Journal Op-Ed: The US Supreme Court Should Stop the Execution of a Man Sentenced, in Part, Because He’s Black
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LDF’s Sam Spital in National Law Journal Op-Ed: The US Supreme Court Should Stop the Execution of a Man Sentenced, in Part, Because He’s Black
This article can be used to discuss the death penalty system, as well as the appeal process of the death penalty system. This article can be combined with statistics of the prison system. As of 2014, 42% of those on death row in the United States were black. However, this is an under-representation relative to the proportion of convicted murderers; 52.5% of all homicide offenders between 1980 and 2008 were black.
LDF’s Sam Spital in National Law Journal Op-Ed: The US Supreme Court Should Stop the Execution of a Man Sentenced, in Part, Because He’s Black
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LDF’s Sam Spital in National Law Journal Op-Ed: The US Supreme Court Should Stop the Execution of a Man Sentenced, in Part, Because He’s Black
Article might be slighltly outdated as it was published in 2019, there might be a more recent decision on this case.
Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
Terry v. Ohio United States Supreme Court 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
An experienced police officer observed two men outside a store. Several times, the men walked up to the store window, peered inside, and then walked away. The officer found this behavior suspicious and suspected the men of planning a robbery of the store. At trial, the officer also testified that he thought the men may be armed. The officer approached the men and identified himself as the police. When the men merely mumbled answers in response to his inquiries, the officer grabbed Terry (defendant), spun him around, and patted down his outer clothing to determine whether Terry was armed. The officer discovered a gun in Terry’s coat pocket. The officer then conducted the same type of pat down of the other man and discovered a gun on him as well. Both men were charged with carrying a concealed weapon and Terry was convicted.
General Resources
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Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
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Criminal Law Spring 2017 by Jeannie Suk Gersen
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Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching
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Terry v. Ohio United States Supreme Court 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
When an officer observes unusual conduct that reasonably leads him to assume that criminal activity is afoot and that the people he is interacting with are armed, the police officer may conduct a limited search for weapons.
General Resources
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Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
-
Criminal Law Spring 2017 by Jeannie Suk Gersen
-
Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching
-
Terry v. Ohio United States Supreme Court 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
based on an individuals' race, gender, and other appearance factors, what is considered "reasonable" to officers?
General Resources
ideas for formulating syllabi
Criminal Law Spring 2017 by Jeannie Suk Gersen
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Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
ideas for formulating syllabi
Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching
The Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching are a collective effort to acknowledge and confront our present “movement moment” within our classrooms. We embrace this moment as an important opportunity to revisit methods and sources of teaching in the legal academy, and to generate creative approaches that break us out of traditional modes of thinking. We approach this project with a sense of urgency given that many of the movements of the day –the Movement for Black Lives, #Not1More, #IdleNoMore, #Fightfor15, Occupy– have at the center of their critique our system of laws. And that those critiques represent long-standing concerns in communities of color and poor communities about law’s violence and inequality. These critiques about law are important, they deserve our attention and scrutiny. They can no longer remain at the periphery of law teaching. We think that critical understanding of how law is enforced–or not–and how legal systems operate differently for differently situated people advances and motivates law student acquisition of essential legal concepts across fields of study and practice.
We share these statements on the basis of a collective track record of work both in and out of the classroom, as well as with deep recognition of our own vulnerabilities and with full awareness of the mistakes that we have made and will continue to make as we labor to meet our commitments. We think the moment demands that we move beyond our zones of comfort to seek and nurture colleagues and allies. We describe our vision in Guide No. 1, in which we detail our four principles: building solidarities, advancing resistance, broadening & deepening discourse, and pursuing radical interventions.
Terry v. Ohio United States Supreme Court 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
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General Resources
-
Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
-
Criminal Law Spring 2017 by Jeannie Suk Gersen
-
Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching
-
Terry v. Ohio United States Supreme Court 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
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General Resources
-
Criminal Law, Cases and Materials by Cynthia Lee and Angela P. Harris 4th edition 2019 ISBN: 9781683284062. AVAILABLE VIA PROSPECTOR REQUEST
-
Criminal Law Spring 2017 by Jeannie Suk Gersen
-
Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching
-