University of Virginia Legal Working Paper Series
University of Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series
Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution after Hurricane Katrina
Article comments
Forthcoming: Duke Law Journal (2006)
Abstract
The New Orleans criminal justice system collapsed after Hurricane Katrina, resulting in a constitutional crisis. Eight thousand people, mostly indigent and charged with misdemeanors such as public drunkenness or failure to pay traffic tickets, languished indefinitely in state prisons. For months the court system shut its doors, the police department fell into disarray, few prosecutors remained, and a handful of public defenders could not meet with, much less represent, the thousands detained. We present a narrative of the collapse of the New Orleans area criminal system after Hurricane Katrina, based in part on a series of interviews conducted with officials at all levels of the New Orleans criminal system. Not only did this perfect storm illuminate how unprepared our local criminal systems remain for a severe natural disaster or terrorist attack, but it raised unique and unexplored constitutional questions. We argue that neither constitutional criminal procedure and doctrines of federalism served their intended protective roles during the emergency. Criminal procedure rules failed to safeguard individual liberty much less the normal operation of the criminal process, while deferential rules rooted in federalism had the unanticipated effect of hindering provision of critical federal emergency assistance. We conclude by imagining systems designed to safeguard the provision of local criminal justice during emergencies.
Subject Area
Criminal Law and Procedure, Public Law and Legal Theory
Recommended Citation
Brandon L. Garrett and Tania Tetlow,
"Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution after Hurricane Katrina"
(June 2006).
University of Virginia Legal Working Paper Series.
University of Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series.
Working Paper 44.
http://law.bepress.com/uvalwps/uva_publiclaw/art44
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