Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Yale Law Journal

Abstract

For many years, New York State’s enterprise corruption law was grounded in a legal error. Recently, the New York Court of Appeals has sought to correct some of the doctrinal consequences of this mistake. Unfortunately, the Court’s solution has left the law unmoored from its original purpose, perpetuated issues of notice and legality, and heightened the risk of overcriminalization. This Comment reconstructs and analyzes these developments. It then turns to the practice of a lone (and heretofore ignored) New York State trial court judge as a potential solution to the legal and policy problems created by the current state of the law. The argument proceeds in six parts. Part I demonstrates how the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)—the inspiration for New York State’s enterprise corruption law—was designed to respond to the special problems that the Mafia posed for traditional law enforcement. Part II explains how New York legislators, concerned about the way the federal law threatened fair trial principles, sought to limit the reach of their state analog, the Organized Crime Control Act (OCCA). Part III shows how New York State courts eliminated many of those limits as a result of an error of statutory interpretation, creating bad doctrine. Part IV examines the way the Court of Appeals has recently tried to fix this flawed jurisprudence. Part V details some of the problems with the court’s solution. Part VI proposes the use of section 210.40(2) motions under the New York Criminal Procedure Law as an alternative by which the judiciary can correct its long-standing error. Finally, a short conclusion suggests the broader implications of this possible reform.

First Page

525

Volume

126

Publication Date

2016

Download

Share

COinS