{"id":963,"date":"2015-04-28T09:55:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T13:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=963"},"modified":"2015-04-27T10:02:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T14:02:00","slug":"can-we-have-justice-in-an-imperfect-world-dsk-case-study-shows-fractured-relationship-between-justice-and-justice-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/04\/28\/can-we-have-justice-in-an-imperfect-world-dsk-case-study-shows-fractured-relationship-between-justice-and-justice-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Have Justice in an Imperfect World? DSK Case Study Shows Fractured Relationship between Justice and Justice System"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_964\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2015\/04\/10869.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-964\" class=\"wp-image-964\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2015\/04\/10869.jpg?resize=140%2C193\" alt=\"Professor Jeannie Suk\" width=\"140\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-964\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Jeannie Suk<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong><em>Product: \u201cCyrus Vance and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Dilemmas in a High-Profile Prosecution\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>HLS Professor Jeannie Suk repurposed a discussion-based case study, \u201cCyrus Vance and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Dilemmas in a High-Profile Prosecution,\u201d to explore the disconnect between justice and the justice system in a foundational 1L course. In her two sections of Criminal Law, Suk paired the case study with analysis of <em>Inmates of Attica Correctional Facility v Rockefeller<\/em>, 477 F.2d 375 (1973), a seminal case that affirmed discretion in charging and prosecuting.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_416\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/DSK-e1405438807120.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-416\" class=\"wp-image-416 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/DSK-e1405438845539-130x150.jpg?resize=140%2C162\" alt=\"Dominique Strauss-Kahn\" width=\"140\" height=\"162\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-416\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dominique Strauss-Kahn<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_424\" style=\"width: 172px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/DA_Vance2-e1430143085760.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-424\" class=\"wp-image-424\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/DA_Vance2-e1430143085760-150x150.jpg?resize=162%2C164\" alt=\"Cyrus Vance\" width=\"162\" height=\"164\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-424\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cyrus Vance<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Originally written by Professor Philip Heymann, the \u201cDSK\u201d case study chronicles the allegations of rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, director of the International Monetary Fund and presidential hopeful in France, during a hotel stay in New York City. The allegations pitted the credibility of a black immigrant maid against that of a well-off, famous white man; Manhattan\u2019s new district attorney, Cyrus Vance, had to decide whether to allow Strauss-Kahn out on bail and, later, whether to drop charges when the evidence base unraveled. On the line was not only Strauss-Kahn\u2019s image, but Vance\u2019s too.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Heymann originally used the case in an elective on Decision-Making and Leadership in the Public Sector. His teaching plan explored the permissible factors that go into charging decisions, the implications of prosecutorial discretion particular to the DSK case, and strategies for investigating hypotheses and gathering evidence.<\/p>\n<p>But for Suk\u2019s 1Ls, it was important to explore the relationship between discretion and justice. She asked:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is discretion? Why don\u2019t legal rules determine criminal liability and punishment?<\/li>\n<li>Is discretion fair to defendants? To victims? To society?<\/li>\n<li>Is it fair to take the case to trial if a prosecutor believes beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant is guilty, but knows a jury is unlikely to convict or the admissible evidence is unconvincing?<\/li>\n<li>If the prosecutor conducts himself properly, is the outcome automatically just?<\/li>\n<li>Under the Rawlsian veil of ignorance, are prosecutors better suited as trustees of justice or delegates of the people? How much should public pressures influence prosecutorial discretion?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Together, the class parsed out available standards for charging someone with a crime: probable cause, beyond a reasonable doubt, and the grey areas in between. Through Socratic questioning, Suk elicited from students the notion that probable cause does not signify a probable conviction, which is determined by the strength of the admissible evidence.<\/p>\n<p>From many angles, Suk showed how written law and established procedure do not necessarily bring justice. For instance, she asked the class to consider whether an acquittal for a rapist, due to insufficient evidence or lingering doubt in the jury, would send a message of justice. Suk posed another example, the mandatory arrest and prosecution of domestic violence suspects, as a procedural extreme: does removing human intervention actually bring more justice? Furthermore, Suk noted that it is unconstitutional to consider race in prosecutorial decisions, but prosecutors do commonly think of representing, empowering, or bringing justice to specific populations. The <em>perception<\/em> of fairness, whether in charging or trial, can engender faith in the justice system.<\/p>\n<p>To conclude, Suk explained how prosecutors were the lynchpins of the criminal justice system. Suk said, \u201cThere are legal incentives to cast many behaviors as criminal with big punishments. It\u2019s a one-way ratchet up.\u201d Overcriminalization, she argued, is premised on prosecutorial discretion: the system presupposes that not all offenses will be pursued, and thus prosecutors should be able to tailor charges and offenses to the individual defendant. Should prosecution be monitored by an independent institution? Should we allow for private prosecutions, as other countries do? These are questions that these 1Ls will carry with them throughout their legal careers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCyrus Vance and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Dilemmas in a High-Profile Prosecution\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/casestudies.law.harvard.edu\/cyrus-vance-and-dominique-strauss-kahn-dilemmas-in-a-high-profile-prosecution-a\/\">(A)<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/casestudies.law.harvard.edu\/cyrus-vance-and-dominique-strauss-kahn-dilemmas-in-a-high-profile-prosecution-b-and-c\/\">(B), and (C)<\/a> are available through the\u00a0Case Studies website. Educators and staff at non-profit institutions may register to download review copies free of charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Product: \u201cCyrus Vance and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Dilemmas in a High-Profile Prosecution\u201d HLS Professor Jeannie Suk repurposed a discussion-based case study, \u201cCyrus Vance and Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Dilemmas in a High-Profile Prosecution,\u201d to explore the disconnect between justice and the justice system &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/04\/28\/can-we-have-justice-in-an-imperfect-world-dsk-case-study-shows-fractured-relationship-between-justice-and-justice-system\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-fx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":409,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/06\/05\/all-the-worlds-a-stage-when-a-prosecution-becomes-a-media-circus\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":0},"title":"All the World&#8217;s a Stage: When a Prosecution becomes a Media Circus","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"June 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Case Study in Criminal Law May 14, 2011. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the director of the International Monetary Fund and front runner in the French presidential campaign, was handcuffed and led off an Air France flight as it sat on the tarmac at New York\u2019s Kennedy International Airport.\u00a0 DSK\u2019s arrest and prosecution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Study Program Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/DSK-333x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":828,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/07\/15\/3-new-teaching-notes-available-in-time-for-fall-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":1},"title":"3 New Teaching Notes Available, In Time for Fall Classes","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking to teach decision making, leadership, copyright, or problem solving this fall? We just released three new teaching notes, free for educators, for-profit trainers, and staff at non-profit or educational institutions: Reputation, Credibility, and the Goldstone Report (A) and (B), a discussion-based case study from Professor Philip Heymann, teaches students\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Richard Goldstone","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/05\/800px-P10107961-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":811,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/06\/18\/do-prosecutorial-tactics-optimize-justice-reconsidering-discretion-in-charging-and-plea-bargaining\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":2},"title":"Do Prosecutorial Tactics Optimize Justice? Reconsidering Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"June 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"New Product: \u201cProsecutorial Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining: The Aaron Swartz Case\u201d In January 2011, an Assistant United States Attorney in Massachusetts\u2019 Internet and Computer Crimes Unit was assigned a case from MIT. For months, a guest on the MIT computer network had been downloading much of the online\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Study Program Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aaron_Swartz","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/06\/Aaron_Swartz-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1099,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/04\/05\/the-classroom-experience-prosecutorial-discretion-in-charging-and-plea-bargaining-the-aaron-swartz-case-a-and-the-battle-for-unocal-case-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":3},"title":"The Classroom Experience:  Prosecutorial Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining: The Aaron Swartz Case (A) and The Battle for Unocal Case Studies","author":"Alec Villalpando","date":"April 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Post by Logan Sawyer, Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Harvard Law School \u201cThat class was awesome,\u201d and \u201cYou should definitely do that again next year,\u201d were the first things I heard from students after the two case studies I taught in two different classes, at two different institutions.\u00a0The classes were\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Singer-4-1024x681.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":857,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2014\/09\/23\/5-questions-with-professor-adriaan-lanni\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":4},"title":"5 Questions with Professor Adriaan Lanni","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"September 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Product: Prosecutorial Discretion in Charging and Plea Bargaining: The Aaron Swartz Case HLS Professor Adriaan Lanni came to us with a vision for her criminal adjudication class: teach students the ethics and discretion of prosecution. Rather than explain landmark examples of prosecutorial discretion herself, Professor Lanni wanted students to find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Study Program Blog Posts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Study Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/case-study-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lanni","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2014\/09\/Lanni.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1069,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/02\/16\/united-states-v-teller-a-new-plea-bargaining-role-play-on-domestic-terrorism-hate-crimes-and-managing-principal-agent-tensions\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":5},"title":"United States v. Teller &#8211; a New Plea Bargaining Role Play on Domestic Terrorism, Hate Crimes, and Managing Principal-Agent Tensions","author":"nsoubani","date":"February 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Sam W. Straus and Robert C. Bordone United States v. Teller, a newly released negotiation role play case by Sam W. Straus and Robert C. Bordone of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP), explores the challenges of negotiating plea bargains in the face of intense principal-agent tensions\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}