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New Jersey Supreme Court Makes "Bad Law" in Child Abuse Case, Denigrating Our Constitutional Right to Confront Our Accusers (Part 1)

By Lependorf & Silverstein

Part 1 of a 3-part series about the Right to Confrontation. By Peter B. Paris There is an old adage in the legal world that warns us, ?BEWARE: Bad facts make bad law.? In other words, sometimes when ?bad facts? occur, like a horrible crime or tragic event, policy-makers react with short-term legal ?fixes? which end up having negative, unintended consequences down the road. It?s a little different from ?throwing the baby out with the bath water,? but the effect is the same. Typically, it is lawmakers who overreact to ?bad facts.? After all, they are the ones fielding the angry phone calls and emails from constituents, demanding some concrete action that will ?make sure [fill in the blank] never happens again.? To silence the phones and to refill the campaign coffers, legislators respond to the ?bad facts? by drafting a new draconian law designed to prevent the ?bad facts? from recurring...continue to full post

Full post as published by New Jersey Criminal Defense Blog on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).