No abstract

The notion of perpetual intergroup struggle is central to conflict theory. Generally speaking, conflict theory addresses the struggles between groups in the context of power differential and oppression. Conflict theory seeks to identify the origins of group conflict, illuminate the conditions in which conflict develops and solidifies, and theorize on the elimination of the conflict.

Jailhouse lawyers provide an important legal service to other inmates. A jailhouse lawyer is an inmate with legal expertise who files his own legal documents or aids other inmates in the legal process. The US Supreme Court has long held that prison officials must provide the means by which inmates will have “meaningful” access to the courts. The Court has not, however, specifically defined how states are to do so, and have, instead, narrowly tailored its decisions to allow prison administrators discretion in meeting this requirement. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act independently present significant barriers to inmates who seek to advance legal claims.

Due to a typesetting error Tables 3 and 4 have been modified. The original version has been corrected.

Limited scholarly attention has been devoted to an understanding of ideology in criminal procedure cases decided by appellate courts. This study focuses on U.S. Supreme Court outcomes and develops a measurement of ideological divisiveness in the voting patterns of the justices for the decisions announced for the 1994–2014 terms of the Court. The analysis approaches the issue of ideological divisiveness in voting patterns through development of a Case Ideology Divisiveness score that is a weighted measure of vote divisiveness (the average justice deviation from the majority opinion) and depth of divisiveness (the number of unique concurring and dissenting opinions filed). The score is reported for criminal procedure, civil rights, First Amendment, and due process cases. The analysis then examines the score for 16 categories of criminal procedure case types and reports mean comparison data. Trends and implications are discussed.