The course covers the concepts and topics typical of substantive criminal law courses. We investigate the elements that de?ne crimes and defenses. We look at certain constitutional doctrines as bearing on the limits of legislative authority to de?ne conduct as criminal. The course offers a good opportunity to practice the skills of statutory interpretation, and confronts students with the policy and ethical questions underlying choices and implementation about what conduct should be de?ned as criminal, and under what circumstances the law should recognize excuses or justi?cations for otherwise criminal conduct. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.

It was Edwin Sutherland, an American sociologist of the early 20th century who first began to appreciate and understand white collar crime and distinguish it from other criminality. He was also the first to define it, calling it "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation". Today, international white collar crime is a global phenomenon which reaches into the highest levels of transnational business and commercial behavior, government, and politics. It includes, but is not limited to, old fashioned graft and corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, securities and market manipulation, banking and insurance violations and fraud, influence peddling and even election fixing. This course is intended to provide the ICLJ?s advanced students with a thorough understanding of what white collar crime is, where it is, how it is executed, what is being done to combat it, and what dangers it presents to established and emerging nations. The course will examine the approaches to these problems used in countries that have a strong interest dealing with white collar criminal issues. In addition, international best practices and standards will be critically assessed.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the only permanent international mechanism for prosecuting international crimes. Though the scope of its jurisdiction is limited, it has had a powerful presence in the development of international criminal law principles. The special tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and for Rwanda (ICTR), both UN-created ad hoc tribunals, have played a significant role in the aftermath of two international crises. This course will ground students in the jurisdictional scope of the ICC; the substantive definition of crimes within its jurisdiction; its procedural rules and the substance and nature of its rulings. The course will also ground students in the practice, procedure of the ICTY and the ICTR.

Students will be assigned cases that the New England Innocence Project is screening to determine whether they are worthy of litigation. Through the course of one or more semesters, students will investigate every detail of the case from reading transcripts, doing legal research and interviewing witnesses to acquiring case files from prior attorneys and searching for still-existing evidence in court files and/or police custody. They will most often meet with the defendant (who at this point is not their client.) for an interview to gather additional information.