Eugenicists argued that criminality was inherited and said the only way to stop the spread of crime was to stop criminals from reproducing. To accomplish this goal, they advocated for long prison sentences that would effectively prevent individuals from reproducing. Daniel Loehr urges criminal defense attorneys to use this disturbing history when representing clients charged under habitual offender laws to develop constitutional challenges and educate the court.

Reviews in Review for November/December 2025

The Cross-Race Effect is one of the factors that shapes the reliability of eyewitness identification. It refers to the fact that a person is less likely to be identified correctly if that person is of a different race from the observer.

To effectively advocate for immigrant clients, lawyers and criminal mitigation experts should uncover psychosocial information that pertains to defendants’ lives before coming to the United States and challenges encountered as first-generation immigrants.

Almost every criminal defense lawyer has had a case in which the lawyer feared that racism would trigger a wrongful conviction of the client. Professor Edward J. Imwinkelried discusses defense arguments for introducing expert evidence that will reduce the risk of racism triggering a wrongful conviction.

A pretextual traffic stop is one in which an officer uses a minor traffic infraction as a “pretext” to gain access to a vehicle and its passengers to investigate a hunch that the officer lacks the authority to investigate. Tia L. Holmes discusses state court challenges to these traffic stops that have been successful.

Criminal defense has evolved over the decades, from client-centered lawyering and community-oriented defense to the advent of the holistic model. What will be the cornerstone of the next era of criminal defense?

This month Jon Sands reviews By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle.

by White Women to Get a Fair Trial

Priya Chaudhry and Awais Arshad write that when white women lie about being raped by Black men, they are believed and face no consequence for having lied. How can defense attorneys ensure a fair trial? The authors recommend offering expert testimony on Presumed Black Guilt (PBG). They say that this idea sits firmly on the well-accepted practice of allowing expert testimony that directly attacks the credibility of a witness.

Some of the trials lasted no more than five minutes. None of the Santee Dakota Indians – most who had no command of the English language – had interpreters, counsel, or the ability to call witnesses in their defense.

This month Jon M. Sands reviews When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey.

This month Chuck Sevilla reviews Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn by Peter Houlahan.

Separate and Unequal Catherine Beane

After his conviction, Donald Trump unleashed an unprecedented attack on the American legal system. It is time for defense lawyers to defend the best – though flawed – legal system in the history of the world.

This month David McKnight reviews Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller.