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Criminal Law

Z the Monthly Blog and Legal Newsletter

Politics of crime (criminal politics) and prison legal issues. Associated with Prison Innocence Project.
By 'Major' Mori Goodbar, Esq.

Post Frequency: 0.8/day

Last Entry: August 23, 2011 at 06:52:00

Supreme Court matters

Posted on August 23, 2011
A petition to the Supreme Court, Dallas County v. Duvall, alleging conditions of confinement when inmate contracted staph (MRSA) virus losing sight in the eye, looks interesting. Even more curious, an entire handful of cases set for November argument in the Supreme Court in, surprise, ineffective assistance, prosecutor misconduct, habeas...

I'm back

Posted on August 22, 2011
Almost one year since I have been without computer...whew. The android, while good for many things doesn't cut the mustard when posting. Let's go see what's new around the b-sphere (still call it that?). Now let's see how easy it is to post hyperlinks with the Ipad...

Prisons and Society

Posted on October 14, 2010
The Summer issue is dedicated to mass incarceration and problems.Dædalus was founded in 1955 as the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and established as a quarterly in 1958. It draws on the enormous intellectual capacity of the American Academy, whose Fellows are among the nation's most prominent thinkers in the arts, sciences, and the humanities, as well as the full range of

Cert Granted No. 09-1454

Posted on October 13, 2010
Greene v Camreta to be heard by the High Court. Jumping into a new controversy over child sex abuse, Tuesday to decidewhether the Constitution p the authority to interview children at school of sexual assault. The specific issue is wheth social workers must obtain a warrant before such interviews...

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Innocents and Prosecutors' Misconduct

Posted on October 06, 2010
Supreme Court hears Connick v Thompson today. Will unfettered patterns of abuse go unheeded?John Holloway writes in Slate yesterday.

Due process and sex offender reclassification

Posted on October 05, 2010
Wonder if recent reclass effort in Md triggers due process or other constitutional protections such as raised in recent ruling in Pennsylvania. Renchensky v. Williams, 3d Cir. (Oct. 4 2010).

Convention Against Torture

Posted on September 27, 2010
Does an individual have standing to sue and if so why do victims not do so? nybooks.com "What to do about gitmo" by david cole.

Texan Freed

Posted on September 27, 2010
Here is an example of what i spoke of re wrongful conviction and reasons why they happen. Good comments at the link. Dallas has another one. wish i knew how to post a link with my new droid...dallasnews.comWall St Journal carries the story too.

Technology

Posted on September 22, 2010
Technology allows me to post via mobile device. I joined the new revolution due only to fact my home computer is fubar.Taking 3 years following my release Texas's innocence commision report fails to mention

SORNA and State Law

Posted on June 12, 2010
Here is an interesting decision from the Supreme Court on the interplay between SORNA and Montana state law. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the federal juvenile registration provision were ex post facto as applied to respondent. Respondent remains on Montana's sex offender registry; the Supreme Court certified a question that could resolve whether he must continue to register under state law

Backing Away from the Briny Cesspool of Democratic Tyranny

Posted on June 04, 2010
From Ohio, a small legal victory. Supreme Court rules change to sex offender registration laws "required" by AWA -- the big bad Bush /Gonzo conspiracy to create a federal sex offender bureaucracy -- won't stand. Here is a link to Prof Berman's blog on it.

How About Putting Only Dangerous Predators on the Registry, with Review?

Posted on May 02, 2010
Here is a good intro to a UK ruling that registration for life without periodic review violates Convention on Human Rights. About time some sensible thinking went into this. Most registrants are not the dangerous persons everybody thinks they are. Here is the link.

Registry for Drug Dealers? A Mandatory Life Sentence for Lewdness?

Posted on April 20, 2010
Now there's talk about a drug dealer registry in MA. I wonder why our law enforcement people can't track these dangerous criminals without putting them on a registry? But because nobody is really serious about stopping the drug trade it's all just more hot air...

Nice Vacation

Posted on January 06, 2010
But it's over. Here's an interesting local posting on a pervasive national problem, money driving politics, and/or the reverse, which could be the same thing. And here we thought it could never happen in an enlightened republic of citizen legislators...

Principles of a lower court's discretion according to SCOTUS

Posted on December 11, 2009
The decision in Beard, comparing the per curiam (unsigned) opinion in Michigan v. Fischer, Stevens and Sotomayor dissenting (opinion here); the Court swoops in to reverse the trial judge and appellate affirmation in Fischer ruling in favor of suppression motion while in Beard narrowly holds on the basis that discretion in the lower courts ought to be preserved...

Postconviction Practices

Posted on November 19, 2009
Thanks to Doug, as alway, here is the ABA symposium on postconviction practices:Prof. Berman also posts here on Second Amendment cases, Heller and McDonald, suggesting that the cause of criminal justice reform is related, discussing the politics as well...

New blog

Posted on November 13, 2009
Found a new blog, Stand Up, by Sam Caldwell.It looks promising.Shitake Awards, one more on topic, for a good belly laugh! The line: "giving anti-former offender politicos and celebrities what they really deserve"

Convicting Innocents

Posted on November 13, 2009
Here is a link to Sean Penn's documentary Witch Hunt (2008). The description from Emanuel Levy:"Witch Hunt" chronicles the unraveling of a small town's justice system. The main characters in this new non-fiction film are working class parents, moms and dads, who were all wrongly convicted of child molestation in the early 1980s in the town of Bakersfield, California...

Reforming Criminal Justice

Posted on November 07, 2009
NYRB has an interesting review of three books, by David Cole, called Can Our Shameful Prisons Be Reformed. November issue. Not much new here, but the problem is gaining in notoriety, perhaps.

Da System, Baby, Is Working, But Not so Great

Posted on November 05, 2009
Who has not heard of the case of Garrido, and Sowell?The girls Sowell had over are not so well.One fell out the balcony and had too much. She is not so well.Sowell is not so well.That's a good thing.Sorry, so well...See you in hell.The proof is so often in the pudding...

Can Sex Offenders be Banned From Church?

Posted on October 26, 2009
Most recently, Profs Berman and Dorf weigh in. If churches are anything like schools, I am surprised that the law does not provide for limited exceptions for attending church services. Perhaps the state could have thought of that, or will they add a provision to avoid going to court?Or, with the constitutional analysis pending, will sex offenders be further separated into legal categories,

One Parthenogenetically Reborn Business

Posted on October 16, 2009
American prisons make the inmates they are made for: the thesis of Prof. Sharon Dolovich and many works to whom she refers in her new SSRN piece (download here) to appear in Harvard Law and Policy Review symposium.Mass incarceration has become a virgin birth industry...

Actual Innocence and DNA Testing Waivers

Posted on October 12, 2009
In this post exploring DNA testing waivers, the real issue of interest to me is why innocent accused plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. Does this interest anybody else? Does it not trouble you?A snippet: Defense lawyers who have worked on DNA appeals strongly oppose the waivers, saying that innocent people sometimes plead guilty -- mainly to get lighter sentences -- and that denying

Prison Reform and Justice Go Hand in Glove

Posted on October 12, 2009
New York could be the model for prison/crim justice reform efforts nationwide. See the NYT article here, contributed by Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that monitors prison conditions.

Stimulating the Stimulus

Posted on October 09, 2009
Here is a crazy idea: devalue the dollar which will lead to immediate demand abroad for us goods and services creating exports and an influx of cash to exporters and the overall economy. The free market at work works well! Cons: consequences of a falling dollar?I see the Wapo leads with an article on the economy today, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi reviews the options for rapidly lifting lagging

On a Slow News Day ... Dominated by War, Health Care and Letterman's Sex Life

Posted on October 08, 2009
Purchasing a lawsuit by the good citizens of North Carolina is shown here (the comments on Prof Berman's blog are interesting). The law banning sex offender from church because it has a day care is being challenged, AP reports here (where experts Prof Jonathan Turley, G-town U...

Whats the Point?

Posted on October 02, 2009
Jumping into the thicket I am going to venture that award winning producer Roman Polanski has done his time. It is 30 years of self imposed exile. To jail him now is merely a gesture to the idea that justice must be strict admitting of no compassion, that to set an example Roman must be punished more than that which he has imposed on himself...

Supreme Court takes up Sex Offender Issues

Posted on October 01, 2009
The Court, already committed to one ruling on laws involving sex offenders, on Wednesday added another: Carr v. U.S., 08-1301. That case, from Indiana, asks the Court to interpret the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006, requiring those convicted of sex crimes to register with state and federal databases...

Off the Wall

Posted on September 29, 2009
Show me what a man reads and I will tell you what kind of man he is.Who said this?Show me the books he loves and I shall knowThe man far better than through mortal friends. ? S. Weir MitchellAccording to Book Browse, S. Weir Mitchell.The phrase came to mind as I was reading John Keane's, The Life and Death of Democracy, (2009)...

Thesis: Supreme Court & Public Opinion

Posted on September 27, 2009
Friedman?s thesis about the influence of public opinion on the Supreme Court sees the justices and the people as partners in a ?marriage? that bypasses the elected legislature and the president.The Will of the People

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