In recent years, the Obama administration has spent considerable time and effort in reforming the Justice Department’s approach to low-level drug offenders. In addition, state legislatures nationwide have begun to crack down on sex offenders even more harshly than they had before. These shifts in criminal prosecutions and defense have been fairly clear and straightforward. However, the federal government’s...
Continue ReadingShould the Federal government be able to seize the assets of a defendant without a preliminary hearing and thereby infringe on the ability of a defendant to hire the lawyer of his choice? That is the question that the United State Supreme Court will answer after oral arguments on Wednesday. It is a question that has conflicting answers depending...
Continue ReadingThe Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Weinstein’s sentence of a 19 year old for distribution of child pornography. The Circuit Court’sdecision found that the mandatory minimum five year sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment and required Judge Weinstein to, at a minimum, sentence the defendant to the required...
Continue ReadingThe American public has become increasingly fascinated with criminal science and forensic evidence analysis over the past decade or so. A staggering number of popular television programs and bestselling books focus on the impact that these processes have on both the prosecution of accused persons and the criminal defense strategies of those who have been accused. As interesting and...
Continue ReadingWhen national crime rates reach all-time lows, one would expect that America’s federal prison population rate would similarly be situated at an all-time low. On the contrary, federal prisons are currently operating at a rate nearly forty percent above their capacity, despite record lows in national crime rates. Partially in response to this gross inconsistency, Congress has created an...
Continue ReadingThanks to a startling number of references in television, books and movies, most American adults understand their basic Miranda rights, even if they are unsure of what they are called. Generally, exercising one’s “right to remain silent” is perhaps the single-most well understood response to being arrested behind calling an attorney. Unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court recently handed...
Continue ReadingSeveral days ago, the First District Court of Appeals held that Florida may privatize its prison healthcare system. This broadly means that rather than assuming responsibility for the care of its prisoners, a private healthcare contractor or set of contractors will be tasked with that challenge. While this decision may ease certain budgetary burdens plaguing the state, it may...
Continue ReadingBoth federal and state criminal laws often provide for certain release valves to be used in the event that it makes more sense from a values balancing standpoint to release a prisoner or mitigate his or her imprisonment terms than to keep that prisoner locked away. The criminal justice system seeks in part to balance the needs of public...
Continue ReadingA foundational principle of the American criminal justice system is predictability. Only when both crimes and punishment are clearly outlined and the law is applied similarly in similar situations may citizens make informed decisions about remaining inbounds of the law. When any necessary criminal law is predictable and universally applied, holding individuals accountable for breaking the law becomes less...
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