MetaFilter posts tagged with crime and law

it's a Federal crime

nickyskye — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:43:27 -0800

Brian W. Walsh thinks You're (Probably) A Federal Criminal.

Don't shoot a man when he's down?

shivohum — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:29:42 -0800

In a case reminiscent of Bernard Goetz, pharmacist Jerome Ersland was held up by two gun-wielding men, shot one of them in the head, and then, when the other had left, shot the prone man several more times, killing him (store security video). Now he's being charged with first-degree murder, and is the center of intense controversy about whether he engaged in legitimate self-defense by making absolutely sure his attacker was incapacitated or in an unjustifiable vigilante-style execution. Complicating matters is the fact that Jerome is white and the robbers black.

Lawless Lands: Justice Denied to Native Communities

fourcheesemac — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:11:50 -0800

"Lawless Lands": Michael Riley, writing in the Denver Post, investigates the dysfunctional state of law enforcement on Native American reservations, and the shocking consequences for crime victims. Bill Moyer's Journal has followed up with an excellent documentary expose entitled "Broken Justice." Amnesty International reports on a particularly heinous aspect of the problem -- one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, and the perpetrators are rarely punished. N. Bruce Duthu's Op-Ed on the subject from the NY Times, 8/10.08.

Presidential Crimes

homunculus — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:55:19 -0800

Presidential Crimes: Moving on is not an option. "In deciding about legal redress, we need to be clear about the large stakes in our decision. The very multiplicity of the apparent crimes, the sheer array of arguably broken laws, is dizzying. But that multiplicity must be faced, for in it we will see that what got in President Bush’s way was not any one law but the rule of law itself. It is the rule of law that has been put in jeopardy by a project of executive domination; it is the rule of law that will continue to be in peril; and it is only, therefore, by addressing the crimes through legal instruments—through a formal, legal arena, and not simply through the electoral repudiation of bad policy—that the grave and widespread damage stands a chance of being repaired."

Life without parole: Child prisoners in the US

flibbertigibbet — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:46:50 -0800

"In the US, there are 2,270 prisoners [report, news release, with testimonies] who were sentenced as children to life without parole. They will die behind bars. Ed Pilkington asks five of them - from a 21-year-old to a 70-year-old - how do they cope?" Related: as of 2005, executions of prisoners for crimes committed as children is no longer permissible in the United States.

The public advocate wants to know . . .

Crotalus — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:21:45 -0800

Are you a beloved uncle or trusted coach?

101 Stories on Counterfeit Goods

ThePinkSuperhero — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:33:48 -0800

CounterfeitChic.com's latest roundup of world news stories on knockoffs. Via.

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

finite — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:18:44 -0800

A discovery leads to questions about whether the odds of people sharing genetic profiles are sometimes higher than portrayed. Calling the finding meaningless, the FBI has sought to block such inquiry.

Tales from the Hanging Court

verstegan — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:06:11 -0800

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey has been posted (and double-posted) here before, but it's just been given a major upgrade that effectively turns it into a new site, with the addition of 100,000 new trial reports covering the period 1834 to 1913, and the full text of the Newgate Ordinary's Accounts reporting the confessions and last dying speeches of criminals sentenced to death. The thousands of human tragedies recorded in the trial reports (some famous, others forgotten) are fascinating and often deeply moving.

SCOTUS tells the ICJ to go hang

valkyryn — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:31:30 -0800

On March 25, the Supreme Court held (pdf) that rulings by the International Court of Justice are essentially not binding upon state courts. This paves the way for Texas to execute one Jose Ernesto Medellin for the rape and murder of two teenage girls. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judgment of the ruled (caution: disastrously formatted HTML) in 2006 that Medellin's objections, grounded on the fact that the Mexican consulate was not notified of his trial, were not sufficient to vacate his conviction, as he had been provided with a competent legal defense and none of his constitutional rights had been violated. The ICJ held (huge pdf) (summary) that the Vienna Convention creates individually enforceable rights, that Medellin's rights had been violated, and that Texas should order a new trial. President Bush, surprising everyone, ordered Texas to comply. The Supreme Court, which voted 6-3 to affirm the Texas court, held 1) that judgments of the ICJ are not directly enforceable as domestic law, and 2) the President cannot require states to effectuate the judgments of foreign courts. --- The Court's 2005 opinion (pdf) withdrawing certiorari as improvidently granted. Commentary: Volokh: (1, 2) OpinioJuris: (1, 2) And! discussion questions!

Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:44:40 -0800

Yesterday, the US House passed the SAFE Act. No, not that one. Points of note:
- If signed into law, the SAFE Act will require people offering WiFi at their cafe, library, or even allowing their neighbours to use it, who notice that someone appears to have viewed certain dirty cartoons, or pictures of fully-clothed children looking sexy, to immediately make a comprehensive report to John Walsh's CyberTipLine, and retain the images, or face a fine of up to $150,000.
- ISPs or email services have the same obligations, and must store all data relating to the user's account, to be handed over to the authorities.
- The Democrats rushed the legislation through using a mechanism intended for non-controversial legislation. There was no hearing or committee vote. The legislation changed significantly before the vote and was not available for public review.
- The bill passed 409-2. Opposed were Paul Broun (R-Georgia) and Ron Paul (R-Texas). The Senate is next, so consider telling them what you think.

Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush

ao4047 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:37:15 -0800

Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush go before SCOTUS Streaming on C-Span today. The Center for Constitutional Rights (great podcast) will argue before the Supreme Court today:

Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, The Center for Constitutional Rights and cooperating counsel filed 11 new habeas petitions in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of over 70 detainees. These cases eventually became the consolidated cases of Al Odah v. United Statesand Boumediene v. Bush, the leading cases determining the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, the rights of non-citizens to challenge the legality of their detention in an offshore U.S. military base, and the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

You are probably in your mid-20s, early 30s.

graventy — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:20:32 -0800

Malcolm Gladwell takes a look at the effectiveness of criminal profiling.

9/11 changed everything? And the NSA is only looking at overseas and terrorist-related phone and internet records?

amberglow — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:04:00 -0800

to gather information about Americans' phone records --... the NSA had approached the company (Qwest) about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records. ...Nacchio's account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts. ... -- The Administration's crimes and illegal spying on all of us and Quest's punishment for not going along with their plans.

California Inspects Spector and cannot decide. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Rancid Badger — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:55:21 -0800

California Where the Rich do Fine While the Poor are Doing Time "Hell, you got to live with it, there's nothing else to live with except mendacity, is there?" Big Daddy, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

We’re too sophisticated to allow bioregional commerce.

ZachsMind — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:22:05 -0800

Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin. This Saturday will mark this article's four year anniversary. Frankly, I was mildly surprised not to have found it mentioned before in MeFi. It's a good read about a sad state of affairs; how our government is turning its own people into outlaws, because freedom has been traded in for an illusion of security. ...but then we already knew that. Don't we?

Mike Nifong disbarred, troubles not over

mediareport — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:46:09 -0800

"If it were a plot of a John Grisham novel it would be considered to be perhaps too contrived." An NYT transcript of the comments of state ethics panel chairman F. Lane Williamson, discussing why "there’s no discipline short of disbarment that would be appropriate" for Duke lacrosse case prosecutor Mike Nifong. In related news, Durham police investigator Linwood Wilson, hired by Nifong and criticized for manipulating witnesses in that case and others, is still employed.

Big Brother is Watching You. On CCTV.

homunculus — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 01:09:39 -0800

George Orwell, Big Brother is watching your house. With CCTV. Perhaps the Surveillance Camera Players could put on a performance there. It looks like Britain really is becoming a surveillance society . [Via Digg.]

Dark days for the death penalty

snortlebort — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:44:29 -0800

This year, Maryland has been on a path to become the first state to abolish capital punishment, and a bill to repeal the death penalty will be voted on in committee within days. Exonerated death row inmates have been campaigning fervently in support of the bill (including Kirk Bloodsworth, a Marylander who was the first death row inmate ever to be proven innocent by DNA)--and the exonerated are joined by a gamut of other voices that one might not normally expect in the debate. Murder victim family members are vocally supporting abolition. Law enforcement officials, including prosecutors, wardens and police chiefs, are vocally supporting abolition. The Baltimore city council – which presides over the lion’s share of Maryland’s violent crime -- is unanimously in support of abolition. Even Maryland's governor, Martin O’Malley, has taken a bold stance in support of abolishing executions, going so far as to publish an op-ed, "Why I Oppose the Death Penalty," in the Washington Post on the day of the abolition bill’s hearings in Annapolis. And, last but not least, the public is more than 60% in support of replacing the death penalty with life without parole.

So why are so many legislators still supporting death penalty?
Even if the bill doesn’t pass in this session, it seems like Governor O’Malley has nothing to worry about for having come out ahead of the legislature on this issue. It’s the legislatures—in Maryland and elsewhere—that are falling behind, as the entire country backs steadily away from capital punishment.

Bringing Bush to Court

homunculus — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:42:57 -0800

United States v. George W. Bush et al. Retired federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega has written a hypothetical indictment for a hypothetical grand jury charging President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell of violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, thereby commiting a conspiracy to defraud the United States by tricking the nation into war. Though a work of fiction, the evidence presented is real. Part 1 is the introdutction, part 2 is the indictment, and part 3 is the beginning of grand jury testimony, with more to come over the next few days.

Food for thought

Smart Dalek — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:59:59 -0800

The new war on hunger. No strangers to controversy, the Food Not Bombs Network generated further discord while distributing meals to others. In the course of its work, FNB's food lines often neglect the issue(s) of sanitation disposal. In response, Legislation has been swiftly drafted to correct problem; feeding the destitute in public gathering areas has since become a criminal offense in a number of cities.

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

brain_drain — Thu, 18 May 2006 19:57:41 -0800

Indicted! No, not him. Today the "most prestigious and recognized plaintiff law firm in the United States" was indicted (.pdf) on federal charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, bribery, and fraud.

Shania Twain defence works in drunk driver's favour

thejimp — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 05:31:32 -0800

It's okay...Shania was driving for me. Chalk another one up to insanity. Hinkley had Jody. Berkowitz had Sam. God told Peter Sutcliffe what to do. Of course, no one told Ted Kaczynski what to do.

The Jennifer Porter Case

StarForce5 — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 08:50:01 -0800

The Hard Road A very engrossing and well written series by three reporters of the St Petersburg Times who spent a year reporting on a hit-and-run case that shocked Tampa. This long, tragic narrative broken into five installments, explores what happened after Jennifer Porter, a quiet, unassuming 28-year-old schoolteacher, ran down four of Lisa Wilkins' children one evening in March 2004. [via]

Pictures of Failure

mediareport — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 21:15:21 -0800

Pictures of Failure: Incarcerated Youth. [via happy palace]