Pages from Bluebook to photocopy and include:
Page 138 (rule 15.1)
How to cite: book, newspaper, law review
Blackstone one. Page 144 (rule 15.8(b))
Page 81 (rule 6.2)
The British legal scholar William Blackstone famously noted in the seventeenth century
that it is “better that ten guilty persons escape, than that even one innocent suffer.” It
seems as if a general repugnance for wrongful imprisonment is just as strong among
contemporary scholars as it was in the days of Blackstone.1 Although it is impossible to
definitively know how many prisoners have been wrongfully convicted,2 a recent study
showed that as high as about 3% - 5% of all prisoners have been wrongfully convicted.3
According to another…4 The last time the Supreme Court heard a case on this was x
years ago, in case.5
Errors:
Blackstone.
--eighteenth century
--“even” added
--need citation for the quote.
Contemporary repugnance.
--Not really scholars. More accurate to write, say, “commentators.”
--this may not be the best example. The editorial is more a political praise of Texas’
policy than broadly reflecting a repugnance for wrongful imprisonment.
--January not abbreviated
Recent study.
--Numerals. (Rule 6.2(a))
--percent (Rule 6.2(d))
--Not of all prisoners (just certain crime, 1980s, etc.)
--shouldn’t be page 781. 780 correct.
--leave out author’s middle name in citation (Rule: “always give the author’s full name as
it appears on the publication”)
Case
--wrong number of years ago
January 16, 2011 ‘A Joy to Be Free’ Editorial N.Y. Times (make this in better form)
Is it impossible to know? Get source…
3
“An Empirically Justified Wrongful Conviction Rate” J. Crim. L. & Criminology 761,
781. (make citation better)
4
Book.
5
Case.
1
2