Category «Criminal Law»

Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues March 22, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Critics see Trump health data rules as boon for big tech; Scammers use robocalls to falsely offer free coronavirus test kits and low-priced health insurance; Letter Carriers Say the Postal Service Pressured Them to Deliver Mail Despite Coronavirus Symptoms; The Coronavirus Crisis Is Showing Us How to Live Online; and How coronavirus COVID-19 is accelerating the future of work.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Cybersecurity, Education, Health, Healthcare, Privacy

New laws give victims more time to report rape or sexual assault – even Jeffrey Epstein’s

Jane E. Palmer is a scholar of gender-based violence currently studying the legal needs of survivors of sexual assault. In this article Palmer examines why someone might wait decades to report a sexual assault, why sexual offenders are often not held accountable, and why so few resources are devoted to rape prevention. She believes that increasing – but not eliminating – time limits will not help most victims heal or access justice.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Legal Research

Death of Colleague, Ken Strutin, Author of LLRX Criminal Justice Guides for 13 years

Kennard (Ken) R. Strutin, lawyer, law librarian, Director of Legal Information Services for the New York State Defenders Association, professor, author, teacher, colleague, friend and respected leader in the effort to illuminate the struggles of incarcerated persons and to champion justice for them, died on November 30, 2018 after a brief illness – he was …

Subjects: Big Data, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Ethics, Government Resources, Human Rights, Legal Education, Legal Ethics, Legal Research

The Government Must Now Obtain A Warrant To Compel Disclosure of Cell Phone Location Records

Attorney Charles Holster discusses the ramifications of the June 22, 2018 Supreme Court decision, Carpenter v. United States that held a warrant is required before a wireless telephone service provider may be compelled by a governmental entity to turn over its customer’s “historical” Cell Site Location Information.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Communications, Communications Law, Criminal Law, Legal Research, Privacy

Detainers, Detention and Deportation: From Presence to Personhood

Ken Strutin’s latest guide on criminal law is an expansive, extensively documented, expert work that provides researchers, scholars, lawyers, judges, advocates for criminal justice, librarians, students, and Americans, a timely and essential guide to seminal issues that are currently the subject of widespread debate – in Congress, in states and local communities across the country – and litigation – in America’s courts, the court of public opinion, and on social media. Strutin takes up the immense challenge of these volatile subjects with his first statement: “There is no such thing as an “illegal” person. For the virtues of citizenship are not exclusive to law books, but found in the dignity of individuals. Ancient peoples who made the first journeys to new lands quickly discovered that humanity is a flower that can bloom anywhere. Since then, lines on maps have served to separate people from personhood. He continues – “Immigration laws and policies have the power to conflate race, ethnicity and national origin with lawbreaking, economic rivalry, and terrorism. A targeted noncitizen occupies an indissoluble bubble of isolation and obloquy that separates them from the moral force of state laws, the integrity of its officials, and the decency of its citizens. For them America is an inside out prison comprised of sensitive locations, sanctuary cities, and degrading confinement. If the immigration system bears a resemblance to criminal justice, it is because they share a forge upon which people are hammered out.” Through the outstanding scholarship Strutin offers here, it is my hope that readers will engage with these issues that are intrinsically connected to Democracy and respect for human rights.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Court Resources, Criminal Law, Government Resources, Legal Education, Legal Research, United States Law

Caged Humanity: Conditions of Confinement and Death in Custody

“Unseen, confinement is where society’s unspent rage takes its toll on human lives. It reduces existence to a room that grows smaller with each degradation. A house of pain and trauma, its concrete walls and steel doors enclose people in jails and prisons, juvenile facilities, solitary, immigration detention and civil commitment. Incarceration intersects punishment, dignity, and end of life. And fear of its horrors are the bludgeon of interrogations, plea bargaining, and retributive justice.” This comprehensive, deeply researched and significant article by Ken Strutin compiles recent and notable reports, scholarship and news concerning the devastating spectrum of prison life and mortality. Through the perspective, insights and voluminous documentation of this leading expert on criminal justice we are given a deeper, more encompassing and meaningful understanding of a complex institutional structure that impacts the lives of millions of Americans. Strutin’s article is not only a critical legal resource but it is also a body of knowledge that calls out for understanding as well as action to ensure that civil liberties, social justice, and our belief in a just society includes the incarcerated, their families, and all of our communities.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Legal Research, United States Law

Bail in Justice: Innocence, Indigence and Incarceration

Ken Strutin’s exemplary research once again advances our understanding of critical issues pertaining to our justice system in the United States. According to Strutin: ‘the number of innocent people in post-conviction confinement is counted in the thousands, the pre-trial population of the unconvicted is in the millions. Every accused has constitutional rights to liberty, dignity and innocence, and yet, confinement often arrives before conviction. Money bail has the unfortunate effect of monetizing personal liberty and alchemizing human beings into negotiable instruments. This is the slippery slope of criminal justice, the erosion of liberty and due process. So it is that excessive bail bars the way to fully realize constitutional rights and increases the risk of wrongful conviction. Present efforts to improve pretrial release and detention practices have inspired some legislative and policy changes as well as bail funds and advocacy programs. This guide and annotated bibliography covers noteworthy legislation, court decisions, reports and guides, news articles and other sources concerning bail reforms and practices.”

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Court Resources, Criminal Law, Legal Research, United States Law

DUI Laws and Technology – Notable DUI Court Cases and Articles

This overview by Peter Charles focuses on the impact of data collection in reference to DUI prosecutions, and includes recent court cases, notable articles on DUI law, and loops in the escalating use of data collection and privacy rights.

Subjects: Big Data, Courts & Technology, Criminal Law, Technology Trends

Fingerprint Forensics: From Lore to Law

Notable developments in courtrooms, academia and government institutions, both state and federal, are laying the groundwork for challenges to fingerprint matching. This extensively researched, comprehensive annotated bibliography by Ken Strutin includes new and noteworthy materials such as key opinions, significant articles and online resources concerning accuracy, reliability, validity as well as authenticity of fingerprint evidence. It also includes information on scientific and technological developments that are pushing the frontiers of biometric analysis.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts & Technology, Criminal Law, Human Rights, Legal Research