Thursday, May 16th, 2013
As the federal criminal code continues to grow exponentially every year, some members of Congress are taking steps to trim the bloated body of laws, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Sources say Congress plans to launch a new committee, with the unfortunately bloated title of the “House Committee on the Judiciary [...]
Thursday, June 21st, 2012
This week, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced its plans to begin a special investigation into how race plays a role in the enforcement of stand-your-ground criminal laws, also known as self-defense laws, across the country. The investigation comes on the heels of the February shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, by [...]
Monday, April 16th, 2012
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walter, a polarizing Republican leader who made national headlines when he battled with labor unions last year, has set up a criminal defense fund in anticipation of an investigation and possible criminal charges related to several of his former staff members. According to a recent report from the Huffington Post, Gov. Walker [...]
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
State legislators in Colorado are attempting to repeal a bizarre criminal libel statute, written in 1880, which criminalizes the act of printing malicious lies about other people. According to a recent report from The Durango Herald, criminal libel recently became a hot topic in Colorado after 44-year-old Davis T. Stephenson was sentenced to prison for [...]
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Overcrowded prisons and the high costs of keeping criminals behind bars are two of the most important factors that have recently convinced U.S. state legislators that changes must be made to the American prison system. A recent report from the BBC highlights some of the absurdities of the American criminal justice system, and the problems [...]
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Predator drones have historically been used by American authorities in foreign countries, particularly in armed conflicts, to spy on enemy combatants. While this tactic disturbed some privacy advocates in the United States, it did not raise too many eyebrows. More controversially, however, federal law enforcement officials have started using Predator drones to help bring criminal [...]
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
A 16-year-old boy, who is trying to muster a criminal defense after being convicted for the murders of at least three people, will not be eligible for the death penalty, according to a report from ABC News. The crimes for which the boy is convicted are particularly dark. Sources indicate that the boy, Brogan Rafferty, [...]
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Regina Lofton put her 13-month-old twins down for a nap in the upstairs bedroom of her home in the 10600 block of Wentworth Avenue in Chicago. She left the home, even getting a shrimp basket from a local diner. Lee Sweis, the manager said “She seemed happy.” She didn’t actually check on her children for [...]
Friday, July 30th, 2010
In 1988, Donald Schmidt was convicted of sodomizing and murdering a three-year-old girl. He was sixteen and was sentenced to a juvenile detention center. Schmidt is now 38 years old, and is the oldest member of California’s juvenile system. Most juvenile convicts are moved to the state prison at the age of 25, but prosecuting [...]
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
A U.S. military court recently threw out the murder conviction of a former Marine sergeant who was charged with killing in Iraqi man in 2006. The Washington D.C.-based military appeals court ruled that Lawrence Hutchins was not given a fair trial, since his defense attorney was inappropriately dismissed from his service just before the Hutchins’ [...]
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