Correctional Case Law

Abstract

In this issue the Review continues its practice of offering brief summaries of selected decisions of federal courts in the areas of corrections and pretrial detention. These cases are drawn from the period since the previous survey. Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in this area are included in the Review's autumn issue, which surveys the major criminal justice decisions of that court.

The chief purpose of the following summaries is to introduce the reader to cases that appear to have significance beyond their immediate facts and outcomes so that in-depth research on any particular topic might be facilitated. Thus the survey is limited primarily to decisions at the court of appeals level and to cases reported in readily available sources. Together with the annual surveys that have appeared in prior spring issues of the Review, the following summaries should provide a comprehensive starting point for research on federal court review of prison, jail, and community-based corrections issues in the modern era. To enhance the usefulness of these surveys, the major decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in each topical area surveyed are cited in the context of their role as precedents for the lower court decisions that are summarized.

For the information of those readers who wish to follow developments in the period immediately following the cutoff point of the present survey, the latest sources that were consulted were advance sheets number 53 of the Federal Reporter (Vol. 978, No. 2, ending at page 1268) and the Federal Supplement (Vol. 803, No. 2, and Vol. 804, No. 1, ending at page 372 of the latter), both dated December 28, 1992. Thus, the summarized decisions date from late 1991 to late 1992. The reader is reminded that the cases surveyed do not serve as binding precedent beyond their respective jurisdictions and that some of the decisions are being appealed and are therefore subject to possible modification or reversal.