This series has previously identified problematic elements of college codes of conduct using a new “yes means yes” standard in judging alleged sexual misconduct, and described one recent California case (Doe v. Regents of the University of California, San Diego) – there are others, with many more likely in store – where a state judge voided […]
The Criminal & College Discipline Blog
An attorneys blog about criminal law and procedure, college discipline, Title IX and cases of Interest
Article: How College Disciplinary Hearings Can Violate Students’ Due Process Rights
In an earlier article I summarized the potential unfairness to college students of school disciplinary hearings involving allegations of unwelcome sexual conduct in states — including New York — which have enacted laws requiring colleges and other post-secondary schools based there to use a “yes means yes” standard. This article will look at a recent court […]
Article: New “Affirmative Consent” law in New York State Colleges
There is a new legal requirement in a few states — including New York — which have recently adopted laws requiring colleges and universities within their jurisdiction to revise their codes of student conduct to include some new mandates related to sexual conduct. (Eligibility for state financial aid programs is the carrot and stick that […]
Article: High Court Rebuffs States’ Attack on Colorado’s Pot Legalization
The US Supreme Court, by a 6-2 margin, has thrown out a challenge to Colorado’s marijuana legalization brought by neighboring states Oklahoma and Nebraska. The high court has original jurisdiction to hear lawsuits in controversies among states. As is usually the case when it declines to take a case, the Court did not issue an […]
Article: Student Interrogations at a Long Island High School
I recently wrote about “The Reid Technique,” an interrogation methodology taught to over a half million law enforcement and security employees, including those in the CIA, the DEA, and every U.S. military branch. I noted it’s now being taught to groups of secondary school administrators in New York and elsewhere. In this post, I’ll outline a case I […]
Article: Interrogation Training Firm Eyes New Market in K-12 Schools
I recently read an article in The New Yorker that reported that John E. Reid and Associates, the nation’s largest interrogation methods trainer of police and private security personnel, has been working to expand into training elementary and secondary school staff. The Chicago-based firm developed The Reid Technique®, which it calls the world’s “most widely […]
Article: New York May Let Police Access Drivers’ Cell Phones in Accidents
The New York legislature has seen the introduction of a bill, with bipartisan sponsorship that, if adopted, would make New York the first state to give police immediate access to drivers’ cellphones at accident sites. The sponsors of the bills (S. 6325, A. 8613) intend the measure as a way to attack distracted driving, by […]
Article: Making Campus Disciplinary Hearings Fairer and Less Arbitrary
Previous articles 1 & 2 have spelled out why college or graduate schools often do a seriously bad job handling investigations, hearings and decisions on disciplinary charges against students. They’ve detailed how students are often denied due process in many campus disciplinary hearings that, for example, forbid students from having legal representation during hearings, fail to […]
Article: Supreme Court’s New Case May Define Impact of Johnson Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court last June, in its decision in Johnson v. United States, struck down as too vague a key provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), which imposed additional high mandatory minimum sentences — ranging from 15 years to life — for persons who had previously been convicted for three or more […]
Article: Disciplinary Hearings: Many Colleges and Universities Do Them Very Poorly
The failure of schools to fairly handle student disciplinary proceedings is no longer a well-hidden secret, as recent court decisions are spelling out in some detail. Take, for instance, the decision handed down in July this year by a state court in California in the case of Doe v. Regents of the University of California, […]