Number: RL32613
Title: Standards for Retroactive Application Based Upon Groundbreaking Supreme Court Decisions in Criminal Law
Authors: Paul Starett Wallace, Jr., American Law Division 
Abstract: One of the hallmarks of new Supreme Court decisions is that until their announcement many of the lower courts are likely to have ruled erroneously on the issue. The question becomes when may defendants convicted or sentenced on the basis of these errors claim the benefit of the new decision and have their convictions or sentences overturned. Generally new decisions of the Supreme Court will apply retroactively to defendants currently on trial or on direct appeal. Also, a defendant may take advantage, retroactively, of a new Court rule in a few other limited situations, for example, decisions which construe a criminal statute to exclude certain acts or conduct. New decisions of the Court sometimes apply retroactively to those on collateral review, and rarely apply retroactively to those petitioners on second or successive collateral reviews.
Pages: 10
Date: September 28, 2004