tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360602652024-03-08T09:53:18.037-05:00Z The Legal Blog and Monthly NewsletterA blog and newsletter about the politics of crime (criminal politics) and prison legal issues. Should the law advance Deterrence or Retribution, Banishment or Rehabilitation? Donations and store proceeds feed the Prison Innocence Project and Monthly Newsletter (annual report available on request)."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.comBlogger421125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-37037088542515932372011-08-23T06:52:00.006-04:002011-08-23T07:54:17.584-04:00Supreme Court mattersA petition to the Supreme Court, Dallas County v. Duvall, alleging conditions of confinement when inmate contracted staph (MRSA) virus losing sight in the eye, looks interesting.
Even more curious, an entire handful of cases set for November argument in the Supreme Court in, surprise, ineffective assistance, prosecutor misconduct, habeas...warrantless search by GPS! The insignificance taken on "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-85230082765587459232011-08-22T16:08:00.006-04:002011-08-23T06:17:42.121-04:00I'm backAlmost one year since I have been without computer...whew. The android, while good for many things doesn't cut the mustard when posting. Let's go see what's new around the b-sphere (still call it that?).
Now let's see how easy it is to post hyperlinks with the Ipad... here. Pretty cumbersome. Mobile ap doesn't seem to be able to select the link url to copy and paste. Gotta check on this."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-20259618162340659602010-10-14T16:48:00.007-04:002010-10-14T17:11:45.342-04:00Prisons and SocietyThe Summer issue is dedicated to mass incarceration and problems.Dædalus was founded in 1955 as the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and established as a quarterly in 1958. It draws on the enormous intellectual capacity of the American Academy, whose Fellows are among the nation's most prominent thinkers in the arts, sciences, and the humanities, as well as the full range of "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-61945198768191273332010-10-13T22:40:00.007-04:002010-10-14T00:07:40.350-04:00Cert Granted No. 09-1454Greene v Camreta to be heard by the High Court. Jumping into a new controversy over child sex abuse, Tuesday to decidewhether the Constitution p the authority to interview children at school of sexual assault. The specific issue is wheth social workers must obtain a warrant before such interviews. A deputy sheriff and a state social caseworke issue of child interviews to the Court in a pai "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-72284970683718046792010-10-06T15:55:00.004-04:002010-10-10T23:43:29.925-04:00Innocents and Prosecutors' MisconductSupreme Court hears Connick v Thompson today. Will unfettered patterns of abuse go unheeded?John Holloway writes in Slate yesterday.Grits has good references as well."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-33349240975733826532010-10-05T20:53:00.002-04:002010-10-06T07:54:21.114-04:00Due process and sex offender reclassificationWonder if recent reclass effort in Md triggers due process or other constitutional protections such as raised in recent ruling in Pennsylvania. Renchensky v. Williams, 3d Cir. (Oct. 4 2010)."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-26007665806718325842010-09-27T22:08:00.006-04:002010-09-29T07:01:58.144-04:00Texan FreedHere is an example of what i spoke of re wrongful conviction and reasons why they happen. Good comments at the link. Dallas has another one. wish i knew how to post a link with my new droid...dallasnews.comWall St Journal carries the story too."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-53991365195399974422010-09-27T19:01:00.002-04:002010-09-27T19:09:19.576-04:00Convention Against TortureDoes an individual have standing to sue and if so why do victims not do so? nybooks.com "What to do about gitmo" by david cole."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-55874512766357743882010-09-22T07:15:00.008-04:002010-09-27T19:01:10.108-04:00TechnologyTechnology allows me to post via mobile device. I joined the new revolution due only to fact my home computer is fubar.Taking 3 years following my release Texas's innocence commision report fails to mention at least one reason for a wrongful conviction, environmental factors and outside influence including prosecutor misconduct."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-81368517220619925222010-06-12T07:05:00.003-04:002010-06-12T07:18:21.018-04:00SORNA and State LawHere is an interesting decision from the Supreme Court on the interplay between SORNA and Montana state law. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the federal juvenile registration provision were ex post facto as applied to respondent. Respondent remains on Montana's sex offender registry; the Supreme Court certified a question that could resolve whether he must continue to register under state law "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-69424708153102974522010-06-04T15:22:00.006-04:002010-06-04T17:11:09.254-04:00Backing Away from the Briny Cesspool of Democratic TyrannyFrom Ohio, a small legal victory. Supreme Court rules change to sex offender registration laws "required" by AWA -- the big bad Bush /Gonzo conspiracy to create a federal sex offender bureaucracy -- won't stand. Here is a link to Prof Berman's blog on it. The opinion of the Ohio Supreme Court is here.Here is how it seems to work. Courts convict under legislated criminal law which provides for"Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-21699422788226736582010-05-01T23:28:00.004-04:002010-05-01T23:33:24.832-04:00How About Putting Only Dangerous Predators on the Registry, with Review?Here is a good intro to a UK ruling that registration for life without periodic review violates Convention on Human Rights. About time some sensible thinking went into this. Most registrants are not the dangerous persons everybody thinks they are. Here is the link. "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-42972184023665604702010-04-20T04:40:00.005-04:002010-04-20T05:05:11.520-04:00Registry for Drug Dealers? A Mandatory Life Sentence for Lewdness?Now there's talk about a drug dealer registry in MA. I wonder why our law enforcement people can't track these dangerous criminals without putting them on a registry? But because nobody is really serious about stopping the drug trade it's all just more hot air. Now mandatory minimum sentences have gone too far, as this post shows.And here is a notable new paper titled Public Safety, Individual "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-30247806909123731862010-01-06T05:29:00.008-05:002010-01-06T06:02:39.851-05:00Nice VacationBut it's over. Here's an interesting local posting on a pervasive national problem, money driving politics, and/or the reverse, which could be the same thing. And here we thought it could never happen in an enlightened republic of citizen legislators. Manipulating the public only becomes easier the less power the public retains. We are getting there, have been there before, and so on it goes."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-59220995786367699282009-12-10T23:58:00.005-05:002009-12-11T00:08:31.364-05:00Principles of a lower court's discretion according to SCOTUSThe decision in Beard, comparing the per curiam (unsigned) opinion in Michigan v. Fischer, Stevens and Sotomayor dissenting (opinion here); the Court swoops in to reverse the trial judge and appellate affirmation in Fischer ruling in favor of suppression motion while in Beard narrowly holds on the basis that discretion in the lower courts ought to be preserved.Makes sense as long as one does not "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-3605242149718374882009-11-19T05:16:00.008-05:002009-11-19T05:56:37.898-05:00Postconviction PracticesThanks to Doug, as alway, here is the ABA symposium on postconviction practices:Prof. Berman also posts here on Second Amendment cases, Heller and McDonald, suggesting that the cause of criminal justice reform is related, discussing the politics as well.Remarkably there is in the air a question whether SCOTUS might overrule a one hundred year old decision in the Slaughterhouse cases regarding the"Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-12335499728103297942009-11-13T00:27:00.003-05:002009-11-13T00:49:09.870-05:00New blogFound a new blog, Stand Up, by Sam Caldwell.It looks promising.Shitake Awards, one more on topic, for a good belly laugh! The line: "giving anti-former offender politicos and celebrities what they really deserve""Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-5508058873091767332009-11-12T23:18:00.004-05:002009-11-12T23:39:39.661-05:00Convicting InnocentsHere is a link to Sean Penn's documentary Witch Hunt (2008). The description from Emanuel Levy:"Witch Hunt" chronicles the unraveling of a small town's justice system. The main characters in this new non-fiction film are working class parents, moms and dads, who were all wrongly convicted of child molestation in the early 1980s in the town of Bakersfield, California. Each of these falsely "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-66513894375938944022009-11-07T17:22:00.002-05:002009-11-07T17:25:13.018-05:00Reforming Criminal JusticeNYRB has an interesting review of three books, by David Cole, called Can Our Shameful Prisons Be Reformed. November issue. Not much new here, but the problem is gaining in notoriety, perhaps."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-30957445127778649132009-11-05T17:45:00.005-05:002009-11-05T17:59:11.072-05:00Da System, Baby, Is Working, But Not so GreatWho has not heard of the case of Garrido, and Sowell?The girls Sowell had over are not so well.One fell out the balcony and had too much. She is not so well.Sowell is not so well.That's a good thing.Sorry, so well...See you in hell.The proof is so often in the pudding.Here, the proof seems to be putting in the house.Sorry Sowell.See you in hell.Remember GarridoYou and matron kept her 20 "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-68740391357928838952009-10-26T07:43:00.008-04:002009-10-26T07:59:11.823-04:00Can Sex Offenders be Banned From Church?Most recently, Profs Berman and Dorf weigh in. If churches are anything like schools, I am surprised that the law does not provide for limited exceptions for attending church services. Perhaps the state could have thought of that, or will they add a provision to avoid going to court?Or, with the constitutional analysis pending, will sex offenders be further separated into legal categories, "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-61164089882291301662009-10-16T15:20:00.006-04:002009-10-16T16:13:05.017-04:00One Parthenogenetically Reborn BusinessAmerican prisons make the inmates they are made for: the thesis of Prof. Sharon Dolovich and many works to whom she refers in her new SSRN piece (download here) to appear in Harvard Law and Policy Review symposium.Mass incarceration has become a virgin birth industry. It keeps laying eggs and the eggs are us. From the view of an egg who both justice and society failed, and having collected a "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-86309462457139083162009-10-12T08:13:00.004-04:002009-10-12T08:19:05.318-04:00Actual Innocence and DNA Testing WaiversIn this post exploring DNA testing waivers, the real issue of interest to me is why innocent accused plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. Does this interest anybody else? Does it not trouble you?A snippet: Defense lawyers who have worked on DNA appeals strongly oppose the waivers, saying that innocent people sometimes plead guilty -- mainly to get lighter sentences -- and that denying "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-19871368458627226132009-10-12T07:55:00.003-04:002009-10-12T07:59:18.551-04:00Prison Reform and Justice Go Hand in GloveNew York could be the model for prison/crim justice reform efforts nationwide. See the NYT article here, contributed by Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that monitors prison conditions."Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36060265.post-58190616528500009892009-10-09T05:50:00.004-04:002009-10-09T05:56:12.687-04:00Stimulating the StimulusHere is a crazy idea: devalue the dollar which will lead to immediate demand abroad for us goods and services creating exports and an influx of cash to exporters and the overall economy. The free market at work works well! Cons: consequences of a falling dollar?I see the Wapo leads with an article on the economy today, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi reviews the options for rapidly lifting lagging "Major" Morihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08182065360609364477noreply@blogger.com0