Criminal Law
Z the Monthly Blog and Legal Newsletter 
Politics of crime (criminal politics) and prison legal issues. Associated with Prison Innocence Project.
Post Frequency: 0.5/day Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 06:16:00 Recent Entries: 184
By 'Major' Mori Goodbar, Esq.
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Postconviction Practices
Posted on November 19, 2009Thanks 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, 2009Found 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, 2009Here 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, 2009NYRB 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, 2009Who 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, 2009Most 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, 2009American 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, 2009In 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, 2009New 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, 2009Here 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, 2009Purchasing 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, 2009Jumping 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, 2009The 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, 2009Show 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, 2009Friedman?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
False Evidence: Fabrication, Subornation of and Use at Trial,
Posted on September 27, 2009My pet issue has made it to the Supreme Court: Whether a prosecutor may be subjected to a civil trial and potential damages for a wrongful conviction and incarceration where the prosecutor allegedly violated a criminal defendant?s ?substantive due process? rights by procuring false testimony during the criminal investigation, and then introduced that same testimony against the criminal defendant
SMART is not so smart at making you safer
Posted on September 27, 2009All RECENT studies taking up the question whether sex offender registries are effective at what they purport to achieve, reducing sex crimes and making us and our children safer, do not in fact accomplish this purpose. Don't take my word for it. Do the homework yourself, search my site or consult Professors Corey Young's Sex Crimes Blog, Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy blogs for newsy
Hate and Fear
Posted on September 21, 2009Repairing Our Broken Justice System is the title of this piece found at Nation Mag, by Gara LaMarche, director of The Atlantic Philanthropies. I wonder if this is possible. Senator Webb's Criminal Justice Commission Act is directed at a similar issue: Hate and Fear institutionalized by wars on terrorism, drugs and now sex offenders...
Local Restriction Survives
Posted on September 18, 2009Clearly an uphill battle to humanize notions behind residency restrictions, as this loss in Miami-Dade court shows. Story at the link.The ACLU promises to appeal.I hope the people paying the legal fees to defend the ordinance are happy.
Claim and Counterclaim
Posted on September 13, 2009Lets examine Dr. Anna Salter?s "prize-winning work in which she cites studies finding that the average sex offender assaults more than 100 different victims during a lifetime." Because I am not aware of a single such study I had to take a few moments to review, briefly...
Maryland Legal Update
Posted on September 12, 2009Whats new in Maryland concerning laws pertaining to sex offenders?Bills that passed in the 2009 session of the General Assembly are retroactivity, minors, photographs and one more I will have to review, all housekeeping sorts of things. An onerous bill to ban from public parks where children regularly gather reported unfavorably...
Finally, An Empirical Study of Registries Finds no Support that they are effective
Posted on September 11, 2009Here is a Dec. 2008 piece from Amanda Agan at the University of Chicago Dept. of Economics, thanks again to Prof. Berman's unparalleled research. Available from SSRN.
Retroactivity in SORNA Unconstitutional Punishment
Posted on September 10, 2009This is huge. A favorable retroactivity opinion from a Ninth Cir Panel. Thanks Doug.
On Health, Care, and the Battle on the Hill
Posted on September 08, 2009Just a little something from Katha over at Nation Magazine. Let's git 'er done:Listening to the radio earlier this summer, I heard a 59-year-old nurse named Robin Batin testify in the most heart-rending way before the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations, chaired by Representative Bart Stupak...
Sources and Resources
Posted on September 06, 2009Talk about a great week, today I found a Voice of Witness series book called, Surviving Justice: America's Wrongly Convicted and Exonerated. This came through Atlantic Monthly link to New Yorker piece hot off the press, Trial By Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man? by David Grann...
Sex Offender Registration Ineffectiveness Becoming Widely Accepted
Posted on September 05, 2009Registries ineffectiveness is finally becoming mainstream, as this piece from WSJ shows. California's Sex Offender Management Board is recommending against adopting the federal requirements concerning risk assessment.
RSOL dot org
Posted on August 31, 2009They slipped in a new group on me. RSOL has been around for a while and are doing good work fighting the oppressive new war on sex offenders. The E Mag and new Forum are accessible from this link, which is now also on my sidebar under the appropriate head...
Help for the Falsely Accused
Posted on August 30, 2009I discovered a new blog and resource link for those who are falsely accused of child rape/sexual abuse. There is help out there for this nightmare scenario. It is especially important in view of the new War on Sex Offenders being waged by unscrupulous law makers and fear mongers...
Terrorism and U.S Prisons Update
Posted on August 26, 2009A tad old, but here's a good update on the overall picture of America's prison problem. And it isn't Guantanano or terrorists that are the problem. As somebody once said, "we have met the enemy, and it is us". I am a proud American, and I think we can do better...
Actual Innocence in Scotus
Posted on August 18, 2009Here is a link to WP picking up a Scotus order for a hearing in the case of a Georgia man on death row who has put forward recantations of seven witnesses in support of his claim that he is innocent.
Can it Get any Worse?
Posted on August 08, 2009Things can always get worse, is the theme of this review of the work of historian William Appleman Williams, titled Off Dead Center, by Greg Grandin appearing in Nation Magazine. Read and heed and relish the big picture; exhilarate in taking your mind out of the cesspool of the instant 24 hour media "news" cycle.
One Hot August
Posted on August 05, 2009August is a hot month in the Northern hemisphere. For the victims of the only two atomic weapons to ever have been deployed, August 1945 was even hotter. For more on that take a look at this link, to the Avalon Project of Yale University, a collection of primary sources on this, as well as other topics of historical interest.
Family of Secrets and The Family
Posted on July 22, 2009Here's a link to a piece about The Family (the "Christian" mafia as they like to be called) in Salon. Now that I'm reading Family of Secrets I'm wondering about the connections that must exist between them.There is no doubt that Lou would make a good member of the crowd as his recent Open Letter below shows: Lou Pritchett is one of corporate's true living legends- an acclaimed author,
Litigation Update
Posted on July 16, 2009Here are a pair of cases worth noting:Norwood v Vance (9th Cir.) prison officials may be liable for prisoner's lack of exercise;Michael Joe Williams v. Jones (10th Cir.) habeas overturning jury verdict.And from ABC News, here is a sad sex crime story about those who have served their prison time being doomed to failure from the moment they set foot outside...
Productivity, Global (Office) Warming and Japan
Posted on June 28, 2009The Hilary Clinton of Japan business productivity and cutting energy are all featured in this Newsweek eyecandy, "Want to Save Energy, Think Japanese" -- always interesting for one who was born in Otaru (that's Japan, up North, where the air is/was could not be cleaner, the mountain waters fresher, the veggies and fish more fresh and nutritious)...
Santimonious Pantheon
Posted on June 28, 2009This one is too good to pass over, by the beautiful Mo, (and the NYT) about all the great affairs of the world. Sorry, Marco.Oh, and I almost forgot; thank God the War (remember, the Iraq War?) is finally over! We only lost 95 (and counting) troops this year, quite an improvement...
The Big Bankers and the Bigger Fools Who let them Bank Your Money
Posted on June 03, 2009Once again, after a few weeks of noting nothing newsworthy, in itself newsworthy an occasion, (besides the bankruptcies of our largest automakers of course, but who didn't see that coming?) I see the New Yorker is on the ball again with a review of a promising new look at the CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP, called FOOL'S GOLD (link here)...
A pair of state cases
Posted on May 15, 2009I've been asked to comment on this case as I find time to review it:http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/04300901rdr.pdfInitially, I see Indiana has expanded the Registry to include several more categories of crime in addition to sex offenses: these include Murder, Voluntary Manslaughter, under certain circumstances Kidnaping and Confinement (according to the opinion)...
How Many Drops of Water in the Bucket?
Posted on April 28, 2009Can't believe it's been nearly 2 weeks since I posted, and a month since baseball began. Here is a case in which FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) played an active role, which just shows that not all mandatory minimum sentences relate to drug offenses...
Nothing Criminal
Posted on April 14, 2009The O's won a nailbiter 10 to 9 last night at Texas in a game that had it all including a double steal by Texas in the bottom of the ninth to no avail as closer George Sherril got the strikeout to end the inning and the game with the winning run on second...
No Shrimpy Fried Rice?
Posted on April 10, 2009Why is This News? Because somebody ought to charge her with criminal mischief for wasting the time of at least two valuable public servants and peace officers.
Reform of Criminal Justice Much Needed
Posted on April 08, 2009And of reforming the legal / criminal justice system, we have this development, the dismissal of indictment against Sen. Stevens, a judge demanding accountability of the prosecutors office, and vows of reform. How far will it go (stealing one of Doc's good lines)? Supremacy Claus sure has talent as evidenced by his biting wit in the comments in the source (see link)...
Prison Nation or Nation of Jailbirds?
Posted on April 08, 2009Getting serious attention, if Lexington can be serious over at Economist. The new crime bill is newsworthy. The article begins:THE world?s tallest building is now in Dubai rather than New York. Its largest shopping mall is in Beijing, and its biggest Ferris wheel in Singapore...
Corruption, Greed, Prisons
Posted on March 29, 2009America, we can do better. When judges are corrupted it takes a long time to undo the damage, as you can only imagine from this article about youth in Pennsylvania sentenced by two greedy (but well educated) judges. You can't make this stuff up.
Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009
Posted on March 28, 2009Jim Webb, Senator from Virginia, gets it. He and Sen. Specter cosponser this legislation to review and reform criminal justice and incarceration policy.
Not your Chevrolet's America
Posted on March 28, 2009Chevy, "this is America"This past year, both the Republican and the Democratic Presidential candidates came out firmly for banning torture and closing the facility in Guantánamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners have been held in years-long isolation. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain, however, addressed the question of whether prolonged solitary confinement is torture...
Blawger's Baseball League
Posted on March 10, 2009As I was perusing Blonde Justice's anonymous blog, (not trying to blow anybody's cover or anything like that, and I'll add that she links to Texas and other geographic places as well) I came across Baltimore Crime which I'll add to my blog roll, as if it's not overloaded already...
Getting Down to Business
Posted on February 24, 2009Reviewing some posts from Doc's place I could not help thinking that here is where we are (the greatest prison nation), and unfortunately, here is where we are going (same direction).
Just One More, Reduce Rates to 4% and Let's Everybody Do The Refi!
Posted on February 24, 2009I forgot to mention this solution, as I see more talk about nationalizing big banks that are set to lose more money this year and become insolvent. The good news is, they are already insolvent, and always insolvent, according to their debt to equity ratios...
A Fourth Crazy Bad Mortgage Scenario
Posted on February 18, 2009Moratorium on Foreclosures for one year, to be extended if necessary based on events on the ground.
Two Bad Mortgage Scenarios
Posted on February 15, 2009Case Study in the Market for Homes with Bad MortgagesLink to BW "How Banks are Worsening the Forclosure Crisis"P 1:Home owners in bad mortgages don't deserve to be rescued.Then,a. let the banks foreclose, and the sooner the better. Homeowners take their earnings assuming they have jobs and rent until they reestablish credit to purchase another home...
Extension of Prosecutorial Immunities
Posted on January 28, 2009When a civil rights lawsuit claims ?that a prosecutor?s management of a trial-related information system is responsible for a constitutional error at [a] particular trial, the prosecutor responsible for the system enjoys absolute immunity just as would the prosecutor who handled the particular trial itself...
Inaugeration: Off With the Medieval Currents
Posted on January 21, 2009Bye Bye, and Hello...a historic moment rises; feel the ground swell of hope, fresh ideas, new thinking. Check out all the different views here, (Atlantic) and here (Roll Call), and here (The Nation), and here (Newsweek). Don't forget Fox, or the guys on the Right, no doubt making every effort to keep the "Big Tent Democrats" under control...
Bits of History
Posted on December 22, 2008Speaking of the Fourteenth Century, which some historians have compared to our own Twentieth (that's the last one, not the 21st--this is yet to unfold), and of Religion and Chivalry, the dominant political idea of the ruling class, in A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman writes: King Arthur's knights adventured for the right against dragons, enchanters, and wicked men, establishing order in a wild
Wash, Rinse, Repeat..., Rinse, Repeat ...., .....
Posted on December 18, 2008More dots on the emerging financial meltdown from NYT. Now, with the Madof debacle, I'm tempted to ask, "Where were the regulators" -- Oversight is so passe?
Sosen Newsletter
Posted on December 16, 2008Here's a link to Sosen's inaugeral newsletter. They finally got it together. Hurrah! Here is a reminder that my very own newsletter published issue number 16 last month. It is at this link!
Habeas and the Guantanomo Bay Prisoner Cases
Posted on December 15, 2008Thanks to Scotusblog, at this link is a Supreme Court Order issued today remanding the case of four Britons released from Guantanomo, who then sued United States Military officials for misconduct in the treatment, allegedly torture. That means the opinion of the DC Circuit Court must be reconsidered in light of the Supreme Court Opinion in the case of Boumedienne, issued more recently this year.
A Petition for Justice
Posted on December 13, 2008Here, at this link, read about the tragedy that is Ricky's life, or non-life. He's 19. She's 16, was 13 when, but lied and said she was about his age. Now, Ricky lives with the consequences. When will the madness end?
Is it Time to End Prohibition (Again)?
Posted on December 13, 2008At this link is a post at Prof. Berman's Sentencing Law blog. The debate in the comments is interesting and well worth reading. I agree with those who are pushing to end the Modern Era of Prohibition we are living with today. For all the reasons Zack lists in the comments, I agree...
Good Reference Commentary
Posted on December 11, 2008Letsgetreal has posted comments on my last post concerning the Adam Walsh Act and related concerns.
145 Million At Stake in Frederick County, Maryland, Wrongful Death Suit
Posted on December 11, 2008Here is a link to an opinion in which United States District Judge Quarles, of Maryland's US District Court, discusses breach, and in particular the concepts of gross negligence and malfeasance in a contract context. If past is prologue, the opinion could shed light into what could happen in a case pending before the same Judge Quarles...
Don't want to come into contact with a registered sex offender?
Posted on December 06, 2008Use the website to locate them more easily. But don't use the sidewalks, they don't wear the yellow stars, or the red A, just yet. At the same time, more and more serious studies are showing that registration such as this is a waste of time and money, tax payer money, to be more precise...
Clearly Established Law Not Always Clear
Posted on November 27, 2008Here is a petition to watch, with links to the opinion below, petition for cert and reply concerning the recent Cunningham decision in the Court. The appellate court held Cunningham did not establish new law, following Blakely, making defendant eligible for habeas relief under 2254...
New Commerce Clause SORNA piece
Posted on November 25, 2008Here is Cory Young, Associate Professor of Law at Marshall, posting in his Blog, Sex Crimes: I've posted a draft of a shorter article of mine that will be out soon in the Federal Sentencing Reporter. The article builds upon the Commerce Clause discussion in my other forthcoming article, One of These Laws is not Like the Others: Why the Federal Sex Offender Registration and
Soros on the Crisis
Posted on November 25, 2008At this link to the NYRB, read George Soros's take on what went wrong in the financial system.
Curious Registry Stuff: Real Offender is the Law
Posted on November 22, 2008Here is the intro to this good piece (ht, Doc), called "Real Offender," In its relentless efforts to expel Wendy Whitaker from her Columbia County home, the state of Georgia has crossed the line from protector to persecutor of its citizens. The state isn?t inciting torch-wielding mobs to chase Whitaker from her home 20 miles west of Augusta...
Punitive, or Not Punitive to Register
Posted on November 21, 2008A very unusual ruling, at the cusp of right to jury trial and constitutional issue of whether a requirement to register as a sex offender is or is not punitive, for a person not convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense but required to register is available at this link, made available by the one and only Doc Berman.
Cheney, Gonzalez indicted
Posted on November 19, 2008Read up on the indictments issued against Cheney and Gonzalez at the link (wp).
Effective Assistance of Counsel
Posted on November 15, 2008Here at this link is an article one kind reader called attention to. Called Effective Assistance of Counsel and Consequences of Guilty Pleas (2002), it represents slow if steady progress in the study of criminal law in general, and one of the pillars thereof, the right to a lawyer for your defense, which often means nothing more than advice to take a plea if you don't want to go to jail for a
Bank Loots Treasury: Taxpayer Loses!
Posted on November 13, 2008Today I heard that certain people on Wall Street were getting bonuses of 13 point something BILLION for the year!!! That was after the company they worked for had accepted 10 BILLION from the Tarp (I think that's what Hank called it) the 'GOVERNMENT BAILOUT'...
Corporate Crime
Posted on November 09, 2008We need to correct this BS asap: The WaPo headlines a piece which features a tax policy regulation issued recently that amounts to corporate welfare -- correct that: stealing taxpayer money to pay banks and other corporations that only lose money. For losing money in a given year, these conservative executives expect the government (taxpayer) to give them a cash refund...
Section 1983, DNA, Claims of Innocence (and Potty Fodder for Newsletter)
Posted on November 05, 2008Here is a new cert grant in a DNA evidence case, District Attorney?s Office v. Osborne (08-6) courtesy of SCOTUSBLOG. An implied question is whether an inmate has a right under the Fourteenth Amendment, after conviction, to seek that type of evidence when the right is based upon the Supreme Court?s 1963 ruling in Brady v...
A Workout Plan
Posted on October 30, 2008Just for the record, here is one plan put forward by a couple of lawyerly individuals in the New York Times. I like the community based aspect of this one. My thoughts on this are for agencies at Hud or Treasury to work with existing local-community based non-profits, such as Habitat and others, to provide funding and/or guarantees for private buyouts and lease-backs for those still able to
Warrant, Searches, and Qualified Immunity
Posted on October 26, 2008Here is the Scotuswiki on a Supreme Court case that promises to be interesting to say the least. Quickly, the court's oral argument has taken place and further briefing ordered on whether Saucier v Katz (2001) should be overruled. More, after digestion commentary, to be forthcoming...
What the World Could Look Like
Posted on October 25, 2008Ronald Dworkin in NYRB, among others in the special election issue. If McCain wins, however, Kennedy's vote would probably be irrelevant and his influence negligible because Mc-Cain's first appointment would probably create an unstoppable rock-solid conservative majority for a generation or more...
Investing in Future: More Stimulus
Posted on October 22, 2008What to make of the idea of more economic stimulus, now that we seem to be determined to shore up failed banks, and the bankers that failed them? The first rule: avoid a massive asset bubble. We've seen at least two recently; real estate and before that, high tech stock...
Serious Appellate Review Can Make a Difference
Posted on October 21, 2008If perfunctory or truncated review of Georgia's death sentences by the state Supreme Court would be likely to result in imposition of arbitrary and unconstitutional sentences, then, by similar logic truncated federal habeas review over state criminal proceedings would likely result in rising incidents of unfair and unconstitutional decisions at the state level...
Global Finance in Crisis
Posted on October 16, 2008We're off on a tangent, political economy, aka the credit crisis, global recession, market meltdown. M y previous post focused on this and questioned specifically what caused the market to tank, banks to stop lending if that is indeed the situation, and well, putting us all through another Black October...
Hiding Mountains of Debt in Wall Street?
Posted on October 13, 2008Here's what I want to know more about. What about this "hiding mountains of debt in complex instruments?" It brought down Enron and others. Is that what the "mortgage backed securities" were all about? This is Fareed, in Newsweek: If there is a lesson to be taken from this crisis, it's a simple and old rule of economics: there is no free lunch...
More New Conclusions on Federal Habeas
Posted on October 08, 2008Continuing to review the Hoffmann & King, Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice DRAFT, forthcoming N.Y.U.L.Rev. DRAFT, at page 9 we find the following remarkable conclusions: Given the time to habeas filing and disposition, most defendants convicted of felony offenses in state court have no practical access to federal habeas review...
Economical Thinking in Federal Habeas
Posted on October 06, 2008Here is how a new draft by King and Hoffman, to be published in the NYU Law Review next year opens. Commentary will follow once I've read more. At the link you can download the whole thing from SSRN. Thanks, Doc B! We believe that it is time to rethink the federal role in state criminal justice...
Not Just Election Politics
Posted on October 05, 2008The following description of current state of affairs is accurate and not good, because the state of the nation is not good, which qualifies as the understatement of the year. It can only get better, we hope. From the editors at New Yorker Oct. 13: (read complete article at the link) ...
The VP Debate
Posted on October 03, 2008My take on last night's VP debate: She is a well indoctrinated republican who recited and mangled canned lines regardless of the question on the floor, not qualified to occupy the office. He is a well qualified, experienced, connected, grounded U.S...
Biggest Growth Industry?
Posted on October 03, 2008The biggest growth industry amid the economic cliff hanging? Alan Dershowitz (writing in Newsweek) tells us, here.
Against the Grain on Registries
Posted on September 27, 2008Finally, this constitutional erosion seems to be gaining attention. Excerpt from ABAJ, at least two courts this year have sided with the critics and invalidated some or all of the registry law. In both rulings, the courts referred back to a line of U...
Constitutional Crisis or Just Business as Usual?
Posted on September 22, 2008Here is the big picture, from Prof. Bruce Ackerman of Yale, via Stirling Newberry at KOS. Link. On one side is the economy, politics on another and upon the third leg the constitution, the supposed "order" our Republic stands upon. The monetary/financial system is clearly being manipulated to serve the rich; the rich get richer, the system spends like no tomorrow to preserve and increase their
Convicting Innocents, Sex Offender Laws, Anthrax Investigation in the News
Posted on September 20, 2008Here is an interesting post from Grits in Texas, who always does good work, about Ivins, the accused, and now dead, pushed by the investigation to commit suicide, FBI anthrax case suspect. I've felt something fishy about this matter. So do the investigating members of the Senate committee in charge...
AWA Cruel and Unusual Judge Rules
Posted on September 18, 2008Doc Berman notes this decision, in his words: Thanks to this post at Sex Crimes, I have learned of this recent federal district court opinion which concludes "that a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence for [the defendant], under the specific facts of his case, is so grossly disproportionate to his crime as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the
Secretly Shrinking National Security
Posted on August 29, 2008Concerns over the lingering Gitmo cases expressed by Judge Leon as reported by AP, here. Excerpt, WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge overseeing cases against dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees said Wednesday that he fears the public - and the detainees themselves - will be locked out of the courtroom when evidence in the case is scrutinized for the first time...
Update to Doe privacy/national security appeal
Posted on August 29, 2008The privacy case appeal, involving the Patriot Act, "national security letters" and judicial review powers, link here, (Doe v Mukasey; How Appealing, Lawdotcom), updating my earlier post, "Secret Government" was heard with skepticism on the part of a panel of 2d Circuit judges this Wednesday...
Tax Policy a Crime?
Posted on August 19, 2008Economic Growth, the lifeblood of the economy, the fountain of youth of the Garden of Eden that we call the economy, is apparently not well served by ripping off the poor after all, via tax cuts for the rich. Sorry about that. I thought otherwise in my youthful days of indiscretion...
Annual Review, Criminal
Posted on August 18, 2008For housekeeping purposes and future review and research, here is a link to a "terrific" summary of the USSC term as compiled by Prof. Rory Little of Hasting Law.
Alice, the Judge and the Constitution
Posted on August 14, 2008How do Lewis Carroll, Humpty Dumpty, and Alice relate to the law? Check this piece out, by a "rogue" juror who refused to take an oath selected by the trial judge. Excerpt:The scene in the judge?s robing chambers that day reminded me of a passage in Lewis Carroll?s Through the Looking Glass, where Alice is talking with Humpty Dumpty,
Hamdan Verdict
Posted on August 08, 2008Here, is Hirch's (Newsweek) take on the Hamdan verdict. As I've begun to suspect, opinions are written not only by judges, less frequently by lawyers (at least not quickly) and with the most brevity by the media, some in the media. The case is certain to be appealed and has a good chance of being thrown out, as it does not seem clear that driving a car, even carrying a terrorist, is a war crime
SORNA and the Constitution
Posted on August 03, 2008Here, at SexCrimes blog by Prof. Corey Young, are an article draft and the first Circuit (8th) decision interpreting the new sex offender federal registration act (SORNA). Prof. Young notes serious commerce clause constitutionality questions with the law and the recent ruling as well...
Government and Secrecy
Posted on August 01, 2008A good one from New Republic, by Jack Goldsmith (Harvard Law School professor, and former Bush Administration appointee) titled Secrecy and Safety here. A sample of the analysis: A root cause of the perception of illegitimacy inside the government that led to leaking (and then to occasional irresponsible reporting) is, ironically, excessive government secrecy...
Conviction Reversed (Almost)
Posted on August 01, 2008Lessons from an important insider trading case, in which Joseph Nacchio formerly of Quest, gets a new trial, is the title of a potential review of this one, from the Tenth Circuit.
Habeas and Unconstitutional Deference
Posted on July 30, 2008The Supreme Court granted petition re: the 28 USC 2254(d) deferential standard of review in the case of Bell v Kelly (SCOTUSwiki preview here). The practical issue is, how do you get to present "new" evidence that was lost previously through your lawyer's conduct or misconduct, (or the governments sleight of hand, or procedure) when the standard of review won't allow for a fresh look at all the
Maryland Secret Government
Posted on July 18, 2008Speaking of secret government, check this out. Apparently, Maryland's Gov. Erlich was doing some of that too. Spying on Anti war and death penalty activists under the pretext of fighting terrorism. How the definition morphs!
Secret Government?
Posted on July 12, 2008At this link is brief of amicus curiae, the National Archive (of Washington, D.C.) and Electronic Frontier Foundation, in the case of Doe v. Mukasey, on appeal from the US District Court, Southern District of New York. Summary of the argument: judicial review of government's demands for secrecy is necessary to protect the security of the nation and quality of government decision making...
Criminal Justice Symposium
Posted on July 10, 2008A criminal justice Symposium! The press release is at the link: "Alternatives to Incarceration" Here's the meat: Presenters at the symposium include federal and state judges, congressional staff, professors of law and the social sciences, corrections and alternative sentencing practitioners and specialists, federal and state prosecutors and defense attorneys, prisons officials, and others
Texas Justice Re-redux
Posted on July 01, 2008One more instance of a Texas exoneration, and how bad laws make everybody less safe, and life more miserable for the accused and wrongly convicted by making it easier to be wrongly convicted, at the link. Having identified the problem, let's put a stop to it...
Scotus Term Summary, 2007-08
Posted on June 29, 2008New York Times summarizes here, the most important decisions of the Supreme Court term just ended, leading with the Guantanamo Bay habeas/access to courts decision, Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195, (the guarantee of habeas corpus applies at the Navy base in Cuba, the court said, and the truncated alternative procedure that Congress set up was not an adequate substitute...
Risk Assessment and Prison
Posted on June 27, 2008In this post, titled "Examining the School to Prison Pipeline, readers of Doug's blog respond with interesting comments on the topic of the overincarceration and undereducation of our nation's citizenry. It leads naturally to ask not why are so many low risk offenders being locked up, but how can you tell the low risk offender apart from the truly dangerous, and habitual...
Texas Justice Redux
Posted on June 25, 2008Here is some more recent "Texas Justice" from the Fifth Circuit. Read that together with this from UK judges remarking on efforts to install an federal style sentencing "grid" system across the pond. Wow, Professor Berman, good work. If you thought judges should curb excesses of the legislature that have proven to be very, very foolish you'd be wrong respecting the Fifth...
Religion and The Family
Posted on June 24, 2008This book, The Family, by Jeff Sharlet, (his blog here) promises to be a must read for anybody who cares about religion and the future of our nation.
Texas Justice
Posted on June 19, 2008Here is more new evidence from Grits that Texas justice means lock 'em up, actually innocent, accused, and falsely convicted. Just don't become accused, and you're alright if in Texas. Got enemies? Tuff. Stay out of Texas. UPDATE: More on Texas "yo yo" justice as applied to - well, matters of life and death, here.
A FAMMGRAM!
Posted on June 19, 2008A Famm (Families Against Mandatory Minimums (Sentences)) Gram, at this link, tells about the Second Chance Act, and more. Again, thanks Doc Berman.
Federalism Run Amok
Posted on June 17, 2008Here is a ruling on SORNA, striking provisions. When I have a chance to read the entire decision I'll post on it further. Thanks to Doug, of course.
Choosing to Allow so much Crime in America?
Posted on June 13, 2008The following is a comment from Doug's blog (link to post, about James Q. Wilson guest blogging about crime, here). Of the fifty or so comments, and during the two years I've been reading his blog, I've yet to see someone actually make this point so well...
The Texas Hold'em Decision
Posted on June 10, 2008More on the FLDS Children decision, with many comments here, at Talkleft. Also, here is Sen. Cornyn of Texas regarding children, and how to protect them, from an op ed in Southeast Texas Record. Two points, Senator, with respect. One. The following is old fashioned fear mongering: "Local, state and federal government must be vigilant as technology makes some crimes easier;" and, in "Texas
World Oil Production Stuck: Conspiracy, or All Down Hill?
Posted on June 08, 2008Just in case you were not sinking deeper and deeper into depression already due to the subject matter of this blog, here's something else to think about. It's called "All for the low, low price of ..." and in the comments, a trivial fact if indeed it is true, that world oil production has been stuck at the same level for the last three years...
Booker Update
Posted on June 04, 2008Yale Law Journal article on Federal Sentencing and Booker promises to be a great read.
More From Grits on the Texas Mormon Children
Posted on May 31, 2008If you have been Walthered, I would like to know about it. Please contact me through comments on this site or email me. If you want to know more about what this new verb, Walthered, means (and how it originated), link to Grits, Scott Henson's great Texas blog...
Prison Conditions and Other Petitions to Watch
Posted on May 29, 2008You won't appreciate the facts alleged in this Bivens (Sec. 1983) case (on the list of petitions to watch at SCOTUSBLOG) unless you have seen the insides of our prisons. At this link is the tail end of at least one more interesting action making it onto the list, involving removal of children from families and parental rights, that has been ongoing for ten years in Illinois (Dupuy, et al...
Habeas and Sentencing
Posted on May 25, 2008For those who haven't yet discovered the world of habeas, here is a brief intro: The quintessential example of a claim within the core of habeas is a challenge to the validity of the prisoner?s conviction or sentence, that is, a claim that the police, the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, the jury, or the court made a constitutional error resulting in an unlawful conviction or sentence...
Grits on the FLDS Children,Takings and Prosecutions
Posted on May 18, 2008Just a sample from Texas of the FLDS case(s), by Grits: I have no idea what's being said in those interviews, but IMO CPS is overreaching tremendously to assume law enforcement will get to use that information in any criminal proceedings. By wholesale ignoring the right to counsel for people openly asking for their attorneys, combined with the flimsy totality of the premise of the state's action
How Ideas Happen
Posted on May 17, 2008In 1999, when Nathan Myhrvold now of Intellectual Ventures, left Microsoft and struck out on his own, he set himself an unusual goal. He wanted to see whether the kind of insight that leads to invention could be engineered. He formed a company called Intellectual Ventures...
Against the Grain
Posted on May 16, 2008At this link is an opinion being appealed to the Supreme Court by Major League Baseball, and a bunch of other hippo size bodies with brains of peas (I take that back y'all---go ahead and spend money however you want to---I would do the same thing---or maybe not---maybe I grew up---maybe I don't like throwing money into the toilet---who knows...
More Common Sense
Posted on May 16, 2008Link here for this study, thanks to Doc Berman. Laws based on actual fact as opposed to imagined fictions could make the world a better place. Does Residential Proximity Matter? A Geographic Analysis of Sex Offense Recidivism Grant Duwe Minnesota Department of Corrections, GDuwe@co...
Common Sense
Posted on May 11, 2008Our power and authority is eroding because of the amounts we are sending abroad for energy?." Link here (NYT) and here (Mother Jones). The full quote by Sen. Bayh of Indiana: ?In the short run, that they are investing here is good,? Senator Bayh said...
Convicting Innocents: Numbers
Posted on May 09, 2008You have got to admit that the Death Penalty, questions of life and death and fairness bring out the extremes in a man. The passion never fails to surprise me, with terms: bloodlust, police state, medieval, and limited government bandied about dripping with sarcasm...
Age of Regression?
Posted on May 09, 2008In this curious ruling Judge Brownback relies upon the Last in Time Rule, dating from Chinese Exclusion Cases, 1889, to support MCA jurisdiction to try Kadr, a child soldier from Afghanistan pressed into service by AQ. The defense, and forces of the enlightenment, argue that current treaty and international law obligations prevent such jurisdiction over juveniles (brief available at link, thanks
Moral Panic
Posted on May 05, 2008Over at Doug's blog, the latest in the saga of sex offender panic, and extra reading about this puritanical phenomenon: "Moral Panic," by Philip Jenkins. Essentially a history of sex offenders in modern America. Also Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World," which has excellent chapters on the "satanic ritual abuse" fever that gripped the nation for a decade or more...
Wrongful Convictions: Sixty Minutes
Posted on May 05, 2008Here is something to catch up on, if you missed it (I was at my daughter's swim club banquet--could not miss the good prime and mousse): The Sixty Minutes special on Texas's exonerations investigations.
Unconstitutional Tool: Terrorism Again
Posted on May 04, 2008Designations (Annals of Surveillance, New Yorker) amount to a kind of economic embargo: anyone who does business with a designated person risks criminal or civil penalties. The Treasury Department can act more quickly than the police or the F.B.I., who may take action only after an investigation...
Politicized, Corrupted, Justice
Posted on April 29, 2008How far does the political influence reach? Infinitely. Read the rest of this one, from WP, which begins: GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 28 -- The Defense Department's former chief prosecutor for terrorism cases appeared Monday at the controversial U...
Wrongly Convicted Struggle: Solution -- Revive Section 1983
Posted on April 28, 2008Here is one from WP, Exonerated Struggle. And from Reason, Suing the DA, Should prosecutors be immune from civil lawsuits?(Radley Balko | April 24, 2008) Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Thomas Goldstein, an ex-marine who was convicted of murdering his neighbor...
Prison Nation
Posted on April 23, 2008Here is another Times piece on the topic of what I call American Gulag: Prison Nation. Thank you Doc!
Prison Talk
Posted on April 06, 2008This site made news today. Thanks Doc! This is the NYT piece on it, including many good references on prison culture and media.
Convicting Innocents
Posted on March 29, 2008At this link is a post titled "Who is Trying to Count Sentencing Mistakes?" Berman explores and readers offer helpful comments on this topic as well as the phenom of innocents' convictions. One in seven seems to be the low estimate. This is not cool...
Sex Crimes: Where Nobody Wants to Go
Posted on March 21, 2008This post, referencing an in-depth 4-part series by the Deseret Morning News (Utah) by Doug is a must read for all involved in the sex crimes arena, legislators, enforcers, and other professionals alike. The public could find a healthy dose of reality there as well...
Criminal Law Blog
Posted on March 19, 2008Kent's Crime and Consequences needed to be moved into the best crime and criminal category.
Rothgery Argument in Supreme Court
Posted on March 17, 2008a policy of denying appointed counsel to arrestees released from jail on bond and by failing to adequately train and monitor those involved in the appointment-of-counsel process.This is at the core of Rothgery v. Gillespie County, (scotusblogwiki) to be argued today in the Supreme Court...
"Supreme Court , Inc." in Numbers
Posted on March 16, 2008Reading this made me feel exactly the way I felt after seeing No Country for Old Men, which won Best Pic: The bad guys are getting away with murder. So what? Here's a little snippet from a review of Alterman's new book, Why We're Liberals, by Scott McLemee who serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle...
Prison Nation: A Response
Posted on March 16, 2008NYT Published: March 16, 2008 (more letters at link) Editorial: Prison Nation (March 10, 2008) Re ?Prison Nation? (editorial, March 10):The United States prison population is out of control. Minimalist efforts such as alternatives to incarceration and parole reform may be politically palatable, but they will have no significant effect...
Public Not Pissed Off Yet?
Posted on March 14, 2008Link here to an update of the Second Chance Act over at Doc Bermans. Here also, for the first post on it. Wall Street is always interested in the costs, but not always for the right reasons. In this case the costs of the over-incarceration, and now the costs of the remedy...
Sex Offenders, The Constitution, and Your Tax Dollars
Posted on March 11, 2008Very interesting display of a waste of your tax dollars here and here. Both, from the New York Times, picked up by Doc Berman, show how the federal government can take the lead. Only in these instances, the wrong direction being taken. Backwards is not forward...
Mass Incarceration and the Liberal
Posted on March 07, 2008Insights into the politics of crime from Doug at this permalink Recent ideas for reform include asset forfeiture for sex crimes. I happen to think that this would be a solution worse than the problem it seeks to solve, as with registries. Money isn't a motivating factor in this type of crime, in contrast to the drug trade...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
How do you recover money from a stop payment placed on a personal check given to you?
you can always take them to small claims court and sure them for 3 times the amo...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...
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