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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

False Evidence: Fabrication, Subornation of and Use at Trial,

Posted on September 27, 2009
My 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, 2009
All 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, 2009
Repairing 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, 2009
Clearly 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.

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Claim and Counterclaim

Posted on September 13, 2009
Lets 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, 2009
Whats 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, 2009
Here 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, 2009
This 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, 2009
Just 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, 2009
Talk 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, 2009
Registries 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, 2009
They 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, 2009
I 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
Here 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, 2009
Things 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, 2009
August 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, 2009
Here'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, 2009
Here 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
This 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, 2009
Once 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, 2009
I'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, 2009
Can'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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Why 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, 2009
And 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, 2009
Getting 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, 2009
America, 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, 2009
Jim Webb, Senator from Virginia, gets it. He and Sen. Specter cosponser this legislation to review and reform criminal justice and incarceration policy.

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