The Case Against Automatic Reversal of Structural Errors

Abstract

A B ST R ACT. This Note describes the case law governing three structural errors and shows that the rule of automatic reversal has led appellate courts to narrow the scope of the rights at issue. To avoid this effect, the Note proposes a new framework for determining whether a given type of error is "structural" and thus requires automatic reversal. The rule of automatic reversal should apply only to types of error that never contribute to a verdict.