The Paradoxes of Prosecutorial Power in the Criminal Justice System

2 credits · Law

Criminal law's legitimacy rests on a fundamental promise: that legal safeguards will ensure that the exercise of government power serves justice. But what happens when those safeguards fail--or when the very institutions and principles designed to protect justice contribute to its failure? This seminar examines three contexts in which that promise is tested: 1) Extradition and the limits of international law. This will be the main focus of the course. How governments acquire power over individuals across national borders through extradition and alternatives such as abduction and deportation; how national sovereignty both protects individuals and frustrates legal accountability; and how the absence of consistently enforceable international law allows geopolitics to influence the fate of fugitives. 2) Media influence and the limits of public accountability. How press coverage and public narratives, while promoting transparency and accountability, can also influence prosecutors, judges, and other decision-makers, potentially distorting the administration of justice. Case studies include Julian Assange, Karen Read and others. This issue will be considered primarily but not exclusively in the context of extradition. 3) Evidence and the limits of procedural safeguards. How legal procedures designed to ensure reliable determinations of guilt can fail when confronted with mistaken eyewitness testimony, questionable scientific techniques, and rapidly changing technology. Examples include a Texas death row case in which Penn & Teller submitted a Supreme Court amicus brief comparing police hypnosis to the cognitive tricks of stage magic, as well as the challenges posed by facial recognition, the proliferation of cameras, and AI-generated deepfakes. These three areas illustrate different ways in which legal safeguards may not work as intended or hoped--not only because they are inadequately enforced, but because the institutions and principles underlying them can themselves produce unintended consequences. The seminar will explore whether these limitations reflect defects in the law, failures of enforcement, or unavoidable tensions among competing values, and whether the safeguards sometimes succeed despite these pressures. The animating question throughout: When the criminal justice system pushes hardest, does it strengthen or undermine its own authority? The course will likely include guest speakers with extensive experience in extradition law, media strategy, and criminal trials. This course has not been taught before and is somewhat of an experiment. Grading: Attendance, class participation, and a final paper.