Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners

Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners

 

Paul M. Bator

In examining the circumstances under which the habeas corpus jurisdiction of the federal courts should be used to redetermine the merits of federal questions decided in state criminal proceedings, Professor Bator argues that institutional considerations support taking jurisdiction when the state courts fail to provide a satisfactory process for deciding federal questions, but that this justification is not clearly present when the challenge is not to the state courts’ decisional processes, but rather to the correctness of their results. Finding support for this contention in the history of federal habeas corpus until 1953, the author then analyzes the decision in Brown v. Allen, which made at least federal constitutional questions redeterminable on habeas corpus even if fully and fairly litigated in the state courts, and concludes that that decision has not been, and probably cannot be, justified in terms of the proper institutional role of the federal courts.

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

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