CrimProf Blog: Criminal Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Criminal Law

CrimProf Blog

Criminal law resources, information, and news for the academic community.

Post Frequency: 25.9/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 16:40:00

Funding the Second Chance Act

Posted on May 21, 2008
A NY Times editorial urges Congress to appropriate full funding to the Second Chance Act. Especially noteworthy is the reminder that some state governments are already making a serious effort to reduce recidivism with programs that help offenders build a...

Consensus grows for Texas innocence commission

Posted on May 21, 2008
Top judges, lawmakers and newspapers in Texas are calling for the creation of a state innocence commission to study the causes of wrongful conviction and recommend policy reforms to prevent future injustice.

New Article Spotlight: Initiating a New Constitutional Dialogue: The Increased Importance under AEDPA of Seeking Certiorari from Judgments of State Courts

Posted on May 21, 2008
Western New England CrimProf Giovanna Shay has published Initiating a New Constitutional Dialogue: The Increased Importance under AEDPA of Seeking Certiorari from Judgments of State Courts on SSRN; it will be published in the William and Mary Law Review...

Reports Find Racial Gap in Drug Arrests

Posted on May 20, 2008
More than two decades after President Ronald Reagan escalated the war on drugs, arrests for drug sales or, more often, drug possession are still rising. And despite public debate and limited efforts to reduce them, large disparities persist in the...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

A Closer Look: Racial Tensions Behind Bars

Posted on May 20, 2008
Do racial tensions in prison simply reflect what goes on in communities across the country?

Prostitution: Never A Victimless Crime?

Posted on May 20, 2008
Eliot Spitzer?s downfall spotlights a recurring question of crime policy: whether prostitution, the simple agreement to exchange compensation for sex, is a victimless crime that does not merit prosecution.

Addressing the Harsh Reality of Rape in Prison

Posted on May 19, 2008
The group Human Rights Watch estimates that 22 percent of male inmates in the Unites States have been raped at least once during their incarceration.

Study Examines Death Penalty and Race

Posted on May 19, 2008
Adam Liptak in the New York Times examines the results of a new study on the death penalty and crime. There are two key findings.The first one is not a surprise: The death penalty is imposed more often when the...

Why Not One Drug for Lethal Injections?

Posted on May 19, 2008
The New York Times reports that states are rescheduling executions now that the Supreme Court has ruled in Baze v. Rees that the three drug cocktail used by states does not violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual...

Do Federal Judges Question NYPD Credibility in Suppression Cases?

Posted on May 12, 2008
From the N.Y. Times: After listening carefully to the two policemen, the judge had a problem: He did not believe them. The officers, who had stopped a man in the Bronx and found a .22-caliber pistol in his fanny pack,...

9th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Sanction for Brady Violation

Posted on May 12, 2008
From Law.com: Roundly denouncing a Las Vegas federal prosecutor for withholding 650 pages of evidence potentially helpful to two lawyers charged in a stock fraud case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of all 64 charges and...

Internet Crime Growing

Posted on May 07, 2008
From SFGate.com: Criminal attacks against major Web sites have grown so common that Internet users have no reliable way to know which sites are safe to visit, no matter how well known those destinations are, security experts say.

Ninth Circuit Affirms Grant of Habeas Based on DNA Expert's Exaggerated Claims

Posted on May 06, 2008
From latimes.com: "A Nevada man sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting a young girl should be freed or given a new trial because a prosecution expert exaggerated the strength of the DNA evidence against him, the U.S. 9th...

Uma Thurman Stalker Convicted

Posted on May 06, 2008
From the New York Times: Jack Jordan, a University of Chicago graduate turned drifter who lived in his car, was found guilty on Tuesday of stalking the actress Uma Thurman, the star of edgy, violent movies like ?Kill Bill? and...

Wave of New Execution Dates Set

Posted on May 03, 2008
From the New York Times: HUNTSVILLE, Tex. ? Here in the nation?s leading death-penalty state, and some of the 35 others with capital punishment, execution dockets are quickly filling up. Less than three weeks after a United States Supreme Court...

Punk Out for Public Interest

Posted on May 03, 2008
Tennessee director of clinical programs Ben Barton raised $200 for summer public interest fellowships by auctioning off the right to shave his head into a mohawk. Yikes, makes my karaoke offer seem like chicken-shit now (although it usually raises a....

The Middle Finger and the Law

Posted on May 03, 2008
American University CrimProf Ira Robbins has posted Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law on SSRN. Here's the abstract: The middle finger is one of the most commonly used insulting gestures in the United States. The finger, which is...

D.C. Madam Supposedly Commits Suicide

Posted on May 01, 2008
From abcnews.com: Florida police are investigating the apparent suicide of a woman they believe to be the so-called D.C. Madam, who was found dead in the Florida mobile home of the madam's mother Thursday. The madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, was...

Dallas DA Pushes for Criminal Justice Changes

Posted on May 01, 2008
From star-telegram.com: After seeking the release of two wrongfully convicted men in about two weeks, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he will lobby in Austin for criminal justice changes, including establishment of conviction integrity units across the state...

There is No Way to Know How Many Innocent People are in Prison

Posted on April 30, 2008
From NYTimes.com: A couple of years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia, concurring in a Supreme Court death penalty decision, took stock of the American criminal justice system and pronounced himself satisfied. The rate at which innocent people are convicted of felonies...

New Study on the Death Penalty & Race

Posted on April 29, 2008
From the New York Times: About 1,100 people have been executed in the United States in the last three decades. Harris County, Tex., which includes Houston, accounts for more than 100 of those executions. Indeed, Harris County has sent more...

Court to Help Vets in Criminal System

Posted on April 29, 2008
From NPR.com: As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan put renewed focus on the issue of veterans' mental health, a judge in Buffalo, N.Y., has created a special court to assist veterans who wind up in the criminal justice system.

New Human ID Test that will be Cheaper than DNA

Posted on April 29, 2008
From ap.com: Federal researchers say they've developed a human identification test that's faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one expects...

Federal Court Upholds College Aid Restrictions for Drug Offenders

Posted on April 29, 2008
From The School Law Blog: A federal appeals court has rejected a constitutional challenge to a federal law that restricts, and in some cases bars, students with drug convictions from participation in federal college aid programs. A three-judge panel of...

Washington State Calls for Improvements to Remedy Evidence Accuracy Problem

Posted on April 28, 2008
From seattlepi.com: After a series of reports criticizing the handling of evidence at Washington crime labs, the state's Forensic Investigations Council has weighed in, agreeing that an employee who falsely certified test results cast "a cloud of doubt" over the...

CrimProf Jeff Fisher Argued Against the Death Penalty for Rapists

Posted on April 28, 2008
From daily.stanford.edu: Stanford CrimProf Jeff Fisher is no stranger to the Supreme Court ? he?s argued before the high court nine times. But when he stepped in front of the nine justices last week to argue the case of a...

Profs Shave Heads For Public Interest Law

Posted on April 28, 2008
Some law profs at Western New England shaved their heads at school to raise money for students working in public interest jobs this summer. Photos here. [Mark Godsey]

Amnesty International Reports Worldwide Drop in Executions Last Year

Posted on April 28, 2008
Story here. [Mark Godsey]

The New "DNA": Antibody Testing.....

Posted on April 28, 2008
From associated press: Federal researchers say they've developed a human identification test that's faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one...

Seton Hall Hosts Repeal of Death Penalty in New Jersey

Posted on April 24, 2008
Today Seton Hall University School of Law sponsored a day-long conference, LEGISLATION, LITIGATION, REFLECTION AND REPEAL: The Legislative Abolition of the Death Penalty in NJ, which explored the events and advocacy that led to the repeal of the death penalty...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...