news from the center By Anthony S. Barkow, Executive Director
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ince the publication of the last edition of Prosecution Notes, the Center has been continuing successfully to advance its mission through its three main areas of activity: academia, the courts, and public policy debates. Some of those successes are discussed here. All of the Center’s work is discussed on its website, www.prosecutioncenter.org. Litigation
The Center’s litigation practice has continued to be active and successful. The Center has filed amicus briefs in the Supreme Court of the United States and in other courts around the country, both in support of defendants and in support of the government. A few recent examples of successful results achieved in matters in which the Center filed briefs are outlined below: ➤ Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder, supreme court of the united states This case addressed whether immigration courts can treat second or subsequent misdemeanor convictions as recidivist felonies despite a state prosecutor’s choice to decline felony charges and the fact that the individual was not actually convicted as a recidivist. The Center filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioner arguing that circuit court decisions allowing such treatment improperly interfere with the basic exercise of prosecutorial discretion, undermine state interests in the proper and equitable administration of criminal justice, and can lead to a violation of the right to a jury trial. The Center previously had filed an amicus brief in support of the successful petition for writ of certiorari. These amicus briefs were filed in partnership with the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
On June 14, 2010, in a unanimous opinion, the Court sided with the Center. The Court rested its decision in part on Justice Department charging policy, a subject first raised and most extensively discussed in the case in the Center’s brief. ➤ Graham v. Florida, supreme court of the united states The Center filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioner, who was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a nonhomicide offense committed as a juvenile. The Center’s brief argued that the text and history of the Eighth Amendment indicate that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits disproportionate criminal sentences, that such proportionality review is necessary in light of the expansion of criminal laws and sentences and the concentration of unreviewable discretionary power in the hands of prosecutors, and that the Supreme Court’s practice of applying a robust proportionality review in the capital context while virtually eliminating proportionality review in the noncapital context is unjustified. This amicus brief was filed in partnership with the law firm Steptoe & Johnson.
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