Law professor Josh Blackman and Yale student Shelby Baird have posted an interesting paper entitled “The Shooting Cycle,” on the reaction of public opinion to mass shooting incidents, like the tragic events in Newtown and the Washington Navy Yard in 2012 and 2013. Political ignorance plays an important role in their explanation for why such […]
Archive | Criminal Law
Eight People (Including Ezell Gilbert) Pardoned
Today President Obama commuted the sentences of eight people all serving long crack sentences that might well be illegal if given today. Charlie Savage reports: “It was the first time retroactive relief was provided to a group of inmates who most likely would have received significantly shorter terms if they had been sentenced under current […]
Brown v. Buhman isn’t so complicated
By David Kopel on December 14, 2013 4:35 am in Criminal Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Gay Rights, Privacy, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Sexual Conduct Restrictions, Sexual Orientation, Supreme Court, Television
To me, today’s decision of the United States District Court for the District of Utah in Brown v. Buhman is much clearer and carefully-reasoned that Orin finds it to be. There may be plenty of blogging on the case, and Eugene’s analysis next week, after he’s had a chance to analyze it, will provide the perspective […]
Kansas City Police Allegedly Threatened to Shoot Homeowner’s Dogs if He Refused to Let them Search his House Without a Warrant
A Kansas City homeowner claims that police officers threatened to shoot his dog if he refused to let them search his house without a warrant: Eric Crinnian, a lawyer, heard a loud banging at his door Monday night, he was instantly alarmed since a neighbor’s house was robbed a few weeks ago, so he grabbed […]
Thanksgiving for Purported Pirates in Russia and the U.S.
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 28, 2013 8:00 am in Criminal Law, Federal Jurisdiction, International Law, National Security, Russia
It is a happy Thanksgiving for defendants in two very different piracy cases – the trial of Ali, a Somali education official arrested while attending an education conference in the U.S., and the crew of Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise, arrested by Russia last month while minding Russia’s business on an oil rig. I’ve written about […]
Knives and the Second Amendment
By David Kopel on November 23, 2013 6:14 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, History, Militia, Non-Firearms Arms, Right to carry, Self-Defense
The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear “Arms”–not solely “firearms.” While firearms have always been the paradigmatic Second Amendment arm, there are many other types of arms which are protected by the Second Amendment. By far the most common of the other arms are knives. Now at the printer is the first […]
“The Hyped Campus Rape That Wasn’t”
An interesting and troubling column by Cathy Young (Minding the Campus). The opening paragraphs: If a satirist had set out to write a scathing parody of the campus crusade against rape, he could not have come up with anything more bizarre, or more ridiculous, than the real-life comedy-drama that unfolded last month at Ohio University […]
The Strange Career of Judge Gary Kreep
Last year here in San Diego, we had a funny judicial election for a local Superior Court judgeship. The two candidates were Gary Kreep and Garland Peed, and at the time their names caught my eye not only for the obvious juvenile reasons, but because Peed listed his career as a prosecutor, and Kreep described […]
Colgan on Retroactive Sentencing for Juvenile Offenders
A month ago, I linked to a short post I wrote for the New York Times about retroactive sentencing for juvenile offenders under Miller v. Alabama. In the piece, I was skeptical that the Court’s decision would be retroactive under federal law, since the Supreme Court’s decision focused on the right to a hearing. My […]
The ICC Rules Libyan Case Inadmissible
The International Criminal Court today for the first time ruled a case inadmissible, and left the matter to domestic justice. Doubtless the anti-activist ruling has nothing to do with the confab of African countries today, called together by Kenya to discuss quitting the Court’s jurisdiction en masse in protest of the Court doing its job […]
The Biggest Democracy’s Bigger Death Penalty
By Eugene Kontorovich on September 13, 2013 6:42 am in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Criminal Law, Foreign and Religious Law in American Courts, International Law
India has just sentenced four men to death in the infamous Delhi rape/murder case. India has apparently ended an eight-year moratorium on executions last year, greatly altering the global capital punishment map. At the same time, it also passed a new rape law, which would allow for execution in aggravated cases (not necessarily involving minors) […]
It’s Such a Great TV Show That Even The Criminals Like It
From the facts of United States v. Cross, a decision from Chief Judge Garland handed down yesterday involving a wiretap that targeted a large-scale heroin conspiracy: On the wiretap, the agents overheard a series of conversations between Toure and appellant Cross. On several occasions, Cross used coded language to place narcotics orders. Cross and Toure […]
Size Still Matters in the Federal Government’s War on Marijuana
Co-blogger Will Baude makes a good point in noting that the Justice Department’s new memo on federal marijuana enforcement takes a more favorable tone towards large state-licensed marijuana businesses than its 2011 predecessor. Unfortunately, however, this is only a very minor shift. The new memo states that prosecutors should not use “the size or commercial […]
Justice Department Finally Announces its Response to the Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado and Washington
Understandably overshadowed by the debate over a possible US military intervention in Syria is the Justice Department’s long-awaited announcement of its response to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Criminal law experts, legalization advocates, and others have long wanted to know whether and to what extent the DOJ intends to continue federal marijuana […]
Public Ignorance About Crime Rates
By Ilya Somin on August 26, 2013 6:42 pm in Criminal Law, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Politics, Public Opinion
CNN recently published an interesting article about how most of the public believes that violent crime is rising, despite the fact that it has actually fallen dramatically over the last twenty years: You can’t escape the headlines. An Australian going to college in the United States is gunned down by teens who police say killed […]