Jaden M. Lessnick

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Comment
Volume 89.5
Pretrial Detention by a Preponderance: The Constitutional and Interpretive Shortcomings of the Flight-Risk Standard
Jaden M. Lessnick
B.A. 2020, Emory University; J.D. Candidate 2023, The University of Chicago Law School.

I am immeasurably grateful for the input and mentorship of Professor Alison Siegler, whose tireless and groundbreaking pretrial detention advocacy inspired this Comment. I also benefitted greatly from the suggestions and patience of Alec Mouser and Simon Jacobs. Thanks as well to Professors Ryan Doerfler, Daniel Wilf-Townsend, Erica Zunkel, and Judith Miller, and to the editors of the University of Chicago Law Review. Finally, thanks to my parents, whose support has been unwavering.

This Comment contends that the preponderance standard for flight risk is unconstitutional and interpretively incorrect. In cases involving similar government restrictions on physical liberty, the Supreme Court has generally required at least a “clear and convincing evidence” standard to comport with due process.

Online
Essay
Uncompassionate Incarceration: United States v. Thacker and Its Impact on Nonretroactivity-Based Compassionate Release
Jaden M. Lessnick
Jaden Lessnick is a J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2023.

He is especially grateful for the insight of Professor Erica Zunkel, whose support and compassionate release expertise were invaluable in drafting this Case Note. He also thanks Professors Alison Siegler and Judith Miller, Reagan Kapp, Matthew Makowski, Benjamin Klein, and the University of Chicago Law Review Online team.

The area of law colloquially known as compassionate release—which allows prisoners to seek sentence reductions or early release from incarceration under limited circumstances—garnered heightened attention at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compassionate Release

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