Let's Estop Criminals - The Collateral Estoppel Effect of a Criminal Conviction in a Subsequent Civil Trial (From Crime and Punishment in Modern America, P 185-198, 1986, Patrick B McGuigan and Jon S Pascale, eds. See NCJ- 103913)

• NCJ Number: 103923
• Author(s): K W Wolfgang
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Free Congress Research and Education Foundation
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Collateral estoppel is a judicial doctrine calling for the preclusion from determination of issues that have already been fully and fairly decided by a valid, final judgment of the merits.

Abstract

The doctrine has existed in parallel in both civil and criminal proceedings for many decades as a way to stop unnecessary relitigation. The requirements of collateral estoppel guard against undue unfairness by assuming that the party to be bound by a previous judgment had a full opportunity to litigate in the first adjudication. Because of procedural protections in criminal trials, as well as the higher standard of proof, a number of jurisdictions have permitted crossovers in subsequent civil trials of defendants previously convicted in criminal trial. An examination of current Maryland law suggests that attempts by the victim of a criminal act to assert collateral estoppel in a subsequent civil trial would prevail. 63 notes and references.