Gregory L. Poe Feb 6th, 2010What is the Purpose of Restitution in a Federal Criminal Case?
A recent Tenth Circuit case, United States v. Speakman, No. 08-1332 (Feb. 2, 2010), presents an interesting question in federal criminal practice: May a district court order a defendant to pay restitution for the purpose of punishment even if the payment does not compensate the victim? According to the Tenth Circuit, the answer is no. [...]
Gregory L. Poe Aug 1st, 2009The Rule of Lenity
I considered various topics for my initial blog post and settled on the rule of lenity. The spirit of the rule of lenity – fundamental fairness – lies at the heart of a respectable criminal justice system. See McBoyle v. United States, 283 U.S. 25, 27 (1931) (the principle of “fair warning” motivates the lenity rule) [...]
