MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'criminal'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:51:57 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159214&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34761&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedblitz.com%2F%7E%2F26858236%2F0%2Fneuromarketing%7EIncognito-by-David-Eagleman.htm Book Review: Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman Incognito is a look inside our heads: Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, looks at various aspects of how our brains work and how those functions manifest themselves in our behavior. In one chapter, he looks at our senses and how [...] CommentsSweet, I was looking for a new read, might check this one out! ... by David BrainsRelated StoriesNudge by Thaler and SunsteinThe Upside of Irrationality by Dan ArielyWhat Don Corleone Could Learn from Guy Kawasaki (Source: Neuromarketing) Neuromarketing blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159214 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:57:55 +0100 5159214 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125814&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F08%2F11%2F14405%2F From The Atlantic (by David Eagleman): On the steamy first day of August 1966, Charles Whitman took an elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower in Austin. The 25-year-old climbed the stairs to the observation deck, lugging with him a footlocker full of guns and ammunition. At the top, he killed a receptionist with the butt of his rifle. Two families of tourists came up the stairwell; he shot at them at point-blank range. Then he began to fire indiscriminately from the deck at people below. The first woman he shot was pregnant. As her boyfriend knelt to help her, Whitman shot him as well. He shot pedestrians in the street and an ambulance driver who came to rescue them. The evening before, Whitman had sat at his typewriter and composed a suicide note: I don’t really unde... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125814 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:03:41 +0100 5125814 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028457&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F12%2Fmatthew-israel-founder-of-judge-rotenberg-steps-down-in-disgrace%2F We missed reporting this at the end of May when it happened, but I like to close the loop on stories we’ve discussed in the past, so I thought it relevant to mention here. We’ve previously detailed how the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass. has a “treatment” for out-of-control children where electric shocks are given in order to curb their behavior (ala BF Skinner). We’ve also noted the horror of the incident where a former patient was able to make a single phone call and cause the staff to shock two children in its care over 100 times. Now, finally, the founder of the school, Matthew Israel, has agreed to step down from the Center in order to avoid prison time. In an agreement reached with the state’s Attorney General, he will be on pro... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028457 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:50:56 +0100 5028457 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828816&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F05%2Felectronic-medical-records-and.html There are many parallels between the health IT sector (with known injuries and deaths [1]; deliberate lack of regulatory enforcement in part due to regulatory capture [2]; willfull blindness and special pleadings by vendors and purchasers regarding the dangers of the devices [3]; 'certification' standards that ignore safety [4], and other cavalier practices), and this tragic story below:Swimming pool maker pleads guilty to criminally negligent homicideSource: Claims Journal "Pool Company Admits Guilt in Connecticut Boy's Drowning" John Christoffersen, April 15, 2011After the tragic drowning of a 6-year-old Connecticut boy in 2007, his parents have brought a lawsuit against the swimming pool company. The lawsuit against Shoreline Pools detailed statistics of pool entrapment deaths and injur... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828816 Sat, 14 May 2011 11:52:00 +0100 4828816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789347&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F05%2F05%2Fthe-unconscious-situation-of-date-rape%2F This article takes seriously the proposition that many men are telling the truth when they say that they honestly believed that a woman in a date rape case had consented when she in fact did not do so. The article argues, however, that the men are generally truthful at a conscious level, while being aware unconsciously that the truth is otherwise. Furthermore, the absence of conscious awareness is the result of self-deception. Drawing on research in philosophy and cognitive psychology, this article defines the various forms of self-deception and explains how they work in date rape cases. Date rape liability often involves a negligence analysis: Should the man have known of the woman’s non-consent? Yet the penalties imposed for negligent date rape are often quite severe, more so than ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789347 Thu, 05 May 2011 04:01:33 +0100 4789347 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734104&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fis-it-a-crime-to-help-illegal-immigrants-get-healthcare%2F2011.04.20 According to some state legislators, the answer is yes. Lawmakers in South Carolina are pushing legislation that would “make it illegal to transport immigrants anywhere, including a hospital” reports the New York Times. Fox News Phoenix reports that in Arizona, a bill has been introduced to “require hospitals, when admitting nonemergency cases, to confirm that a person seeking care is a U.S. citizen or in the country legally. In emergency cases where the patient isn’t here legally, the hospital would be required to call immigration authorities after the treatment is done. Hospitals in non-emergency situations would also be required to contact federal immigration authorities, but they would have more apparent discretion about whether to treat illegal immigrants.” Such ill-advi... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734104 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:00:00 +0100 4734104 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4714725&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJEepNZs3JeA%2F By David RittgersThe Wall Street Journal law blog has a piece up on how the budget crisis is impacting public defenders: Funding constraints have prompted states and counties to lay off public defenders, hold the line on salaries, and reduce the amount defenders can spend case investigators and staff training, the WSJ reports. Public defenders maintain that they should be insulated from budget cuts for two reasons, the first being that they were sorely underfunded before the recession came along.  Secondly, they point to the fact that states have a duty, enshrined in Gideon v. Wainwright, to provide indigent criminal defendants with the right to counsel. Stephen J. Schulhofer and David Friedman recently published a Cato Policy Analysis, Reforming Indigent Defense that proposes a free mark... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4714725 Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:29:23 +0100 4714725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696593&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fhow-academic-boneheads-kill-people.html I'm already receiving comments that, regarding Prof. Jon Patrick's detailed exposé of the dangers of ill-suited-for-purpose ED EHR's, Patrick's observations are:... not really valid because they're not peer reviewed; they're just anecdotal. Only an egghead could pen such words.I always get hives immediately after eating strawberries. But without a scientifically controlled experiment with all the right peer review, it's not reliable data. So I continue to eat strawberries every day, since I can't tell if they cause hives.I'd already written about anecdotalist refrains at my Mar. 7, 2011 post "Australian ED EHR Study: Putting the Lie to the Line "Your Evidence Is Anecdotal, Thus Worthless" Used by Eggheads, Fools and Gonifs." In that essay I cite Dr. Patrick himself on "anecdotal evidence"... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696593 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:05:00 +0100 4696593 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622206&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F03%2Fhow-academic-boneheads-kill-people.html I'm already receiving comments that, regarding Prof. Jon Patrick's detailed exposé of the dangers of ill-suited-for-purpose ED EHR's (shall we call them "Electronic Death Records?"), Patrick's observations are:... not really valid because they're not peer reviewed. Only an egghead could pen such words.I always get hives immediately after eating strawberries. But without a scientifically controlled experiment with all the right peer review, it's not reliable data. So I continue to eat strawberries every day, since I can't tell if they cause hives.I'd already written about anecdotalist refrains at my Mar. 7, 2011 post "Australian ED EHR Study: Putting the Lie to the Line "Your Evidence Is Anecdotal, Thus Worthless" Used by Eggheads, Fools and Gonifs."Aside from the fact that eggheads also ... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622206 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:05:00 +0100 4622206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532190&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fr9Nm4-WAS3U%2F By David RittgersYou are probably familiar with the story of Brian Aitken, the responsible gun owner wrongly convicted of violating New Jersey’s draconian gun laws. Governor Chris Christie commuted Aitken’s sentence, and his appeal is still pending. As Radley Balko often says, libertarianism happens to people. It happened to Brian Aitken: Aitken never thought of himself as a libertarian, but two years in the clutches of the state system has changed him completely. Before the arrest, the young, apolitical entrepreneur was on his way to a successful career in digital marketing. “I never considered myself a person who is really interested in politics,” Aitken says. “But after all this happened I am definitely a hardcore libertarian now.” Read the whole thing. Libertarianism Happen... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532190 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:15:25 +0100 4532190 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501788&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=35772&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshutah.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F02%2F20%2F2011-ssri-related-deaths%2F It’s Sunday, 20 February 2011 51 days into the year 43 incidents listed already   SSRI Related Deaths 2011   Does anyone care? HOW LONG MUST THIS LIST GET BEFORE GOVERNMENTS AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ACKNOWLEDGE THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS SURROUNDING SSRIs? IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY, STOCKS, SHARES! IT’S ABOUT HUMAN LIFE STOP * LOOK * LISTEN [...] (Source: SEROXAT WEBLOG) SEROXAT WEBLOG blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501788 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 11:25:12 +0100 4501788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482826&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F15%2Fpunishment-a-cultural-phenomenon%2F We are a culture that believes in punishment. Not just for the criminal or the misbehaving child, but in almost every interaction we have, from our intimate partners to our global enemies and friends. We don’t just see punishment as a deterrent. We think punishment works to change another’s behavior. Just look around. Take a closer look at how you approach a difficult conversation. We all do it. We use punishment all of the time. We don’t even think about it. Punishment is a completely ineffective way to change anyone’s behavior. Punishment simply breeds punishment-avoidance — and what we resist persists. In spite of ongoing and frequent evidence to the contrary, Americans rely on punishment to effect positive change in all areas of our lives. From our child-rearing prac... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482826 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:31:57 +0100 4482826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4460005&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F10%2Fcan-you-fake-feeling-remorse%2F An offender in the criminal justice system often seeks to portray themselves as feeling remorse, especially when it comes time for sentencing in front of a judge, or parole hearings and the like. It may be easier to relate to someone who feels genuinely sorry for their crime. And it may be easier to show some mercy to a person who appears to be displaying genuine remorse. Deception is also a good part of any skilled criminal’s behavioral toolkit, because dumb, honest criminals don’t usually last long. So how can you detect whether someone is feeling genuine remorse, versus deceptive remorse in order to gain some favor with another person? Canadian researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Memorial University of Newfoundland set to find out. In the first inve... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4460005 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:07:29 +0100 4460005 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4459939&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F15JGehVfEHQ%2F By David RittgersThe American criminal justice system has long been flawed. This probably isn’t news to you. What is news is the emergence of a broad chorus of organizations and leaders from across the political spectrum speaking out in support of serious reform. A few examples: The Smart on Crime Coalition released its recommendations (and in pdf) for the 112th Congress, providing ways that the federal government can help fix the criminal justice system. Congress creates, on average, a new criminal offense every week. The urge to overcriminalize just about everything needs to be replaced with serious thought about how broadly Congress writes laws so that the drive to lock up a few bad actors does not make felons of a large portion of the citizenry. The Smart on Crime report also points ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4459939 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 22:00:12 +0100 4459939 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4450274&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fm2DAkL47z-w%2F By David RittgersThe Federalist Society has a podcast up, Miranda & Terror Suspects, debating whether terrorism suspects should be given Miranda warnings. University of Utah law professors Paul Cassell and Amos Guiora debate the issue, and Richard D. Klingler of Sidley Austin LLP moderates. Cassell provides a slideshow to go with the audio file. Listening to the podcast, I’m struck at how so many of the concerns cited by Cassell are already dealt with by existing case law. The Quarles case created a “public safety” exception to Miranda that allows officers to ask questions without giving Miranda warnings when there is an ongoing threat to public safety. In Quarles, a revolver hidden in a supermarket was enough to create the exception. As I wrote at Townhall.com in August, the “... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4450274 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:46:13 +0100 4450274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4406014&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=35772&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshutah.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F01%2F26%2Fwhen-secret-settlements-are-taken-to-their-illogical-extreme%2F from The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer by Richard Zitrin & Carol M. Langford This story is not about Prozac, which from the weight of evidence appears to be a relatively safe drug. Rather, this is a tale of what happens when secret settlements are taken to their illogical extreme — in this case, [...] (Source: SEROXAT WEBLOG) SEROXAT WEBLOG blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4406014 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:24:47 +0100 4406014 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349675&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=35772&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshutah.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F01%2F14%2F240%2F Here is a list Criminal Cases with successful outcomes.  Each Defendant was shown to be under the influence of an SSRI at the time of the crime [courtesy of SSRI Stories]. Click the link to open the spreadsheet where you can read about each documented case (to date)!  Sadly I have no doubt that this list [...] (Source: SEROXAT WEBLOG) SEROXAT WEBLOG blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349675 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:33:15 +0100 4349675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4277818&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCn2VmIrRHiY%2F By David RittgersNew Jersey Governor Chris Christie has commuted the seven-year sentence of Brian Aitken, the man wrongfully convicted on firearms charges under that state’s draconian gun laws. Good. While a full pardon seems more appropriate – the judge in this case should have given the jury instructions on the “moving exception” that protected Aitken – this is at least recognition of an injustice and relief for one man and his family. The New Jersey state judicial system’s webpage describes the grand jury’s function as “a screening mechanism to protect citizens from unfounded charges.” That didn’t happen in this case. For more on this phenomenon, read this Cato Policy Analysis, “A Grand Façade: How the Grand Jury Was Captured by the Government.” For more Cato wo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4277818 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:29:49 +0100 4277818 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4225224&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F02wUUY9gpag%2F By David RittgersBrian Aitken, a finance student at NYU and economic scholar at the Foundation of Economic Education, ran afoul of New Jersey’s draconian gun laws when he was arrested while transporting two handguns unloaded and locked in the trunk of his car. After separating from his wife in 2008, Aitken moved from Colorado to his native home of New Jersey the end of that year, to be closer to his son. Shortly thereafter, in January 2009, Aitken – according to one account – “became distraught, muttered something to his mother, and left his parents’ home in Mount Laurel, NJ,” after his ex-wife canceled a visit with their son. At that point, his mother, who is a trained social worker, called the police out of concern. That’s when things went downhill for Aitken. After the pol... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4225224 Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:38:05 +0100 4225224 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4203187&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F11%2F26%2Fscared-straight-not-really%2F “Controlled studies show that boot camp and “Scared Straight” interventions are ineffective, and even potentially harmful, for delinquents.” — Lilienfeld et al, 2010, p.225 ‘Scared Straight’ is a program designed to deter juvenile participants from future criminal offenses. Participants visit inmates, observe first-hand prison life and have interaction with adult inmates. These programs are popular in many areas of the world. The basic premise of these programs are that juveniles who see what prison is like will be deterred from future violations of the law — in other words, “scared straight.” “Scared Straight” emphasizes severity of punishment, but neglects two other key components of deterrence theory — certai... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4203187 Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:50:48 +0100 4203187 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197363&cid=t_102050_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F-g6Xl-GN_ZM%2F Perhaps this is a coincidence. But after months of sour news about the performance of his FDA unit, Terry Vermillion yesterday announced to FDA staff that he is retiring next month as the head of the agency’s Office of Criminal Investigation. An FDA spokesman acknowledged the retirement, but declined to comment. The move comes after the US General Accountability Office issued a report earlier this year that found the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigation suffers from lax oversight, despite increased in funding and staffing over the past decade (here is the report). That followed criticism two years ago by House Republicans who expressed concern the OCI was overly emphasizing drug-abuse cases instead of pursuing researchers and drugmakers that commit crimes when seeking approval fo... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197363 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:18:28 +0100 4197363 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4183284&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FaYRbtb2N_LI%2F By David RittgersYou’ve probably heard that a jury found Al Qaeda bomber Ahmed Ghailani guilty on only one out of 286 charges associated with the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. A predictable debate followed. Glenn Greenwald cited the outcome as proof that the system works, while Liz Cheney, Debra Burlingame and Bill Kristol described the trial as a reckless experiment. Thomas Joscelyn called the trial a miscarriage of justice. The most insightful commentary I’ve seen is over at Lawfare. Benjamin Wittes and Robert Chesney summed things up pretty well: “Trial in federal court didn’t work out the way the Obama administration wanted, but it wasn’t a disaster–and we can’t honestly say it worked out worse than the military commission alternative would likely have done... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4183284 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:51:29 +0100 4183284 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4074447&cid=t_102050_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FZIxbuK-7Dec%2F Last March, the US General Accountability Office issued a report that found the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigation suffers from lax oversight, despite increased in funding and staffing over the past decade. And the GAO also concluded the FDA “has relied largely on the OCI director to determine which aspects of OCI’s operations and investigations are made known to FDA’s top management.” The effort was undertaken in response to a request by US Senator Chuck Grassley, who has now written a follow-up Sept. 16 letter to Gene Dodaro, the GAO’s acting comptroller general, over concerns that the findings in the GAO report “were less than stellar” after hearing from an unnamed whistleblower who charged the agency report was compromised by a mole. “I am not... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4074447 Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:27:28 +0100 4074447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3994084&cid=t_102050_114_f&fid=34646&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FHealthCareBlogLaw%2F%7E3%2FL9ysxAnWPG4%2Fhipaa-prosecution-former-upmc-employee.html The United States Attorney's Office Western District of Pennsylvania issued a press release providing details of their first HIPAA privacy prosecution. The federal grand jury in Pittsburgh issued a 14 count indicted naming Paul C. Pepala. The press release provides the following details: According to the indictment, in February 2008, Pepala, then employed at UPMC Shadyside Hospital, disclosed to others names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of patients for personal gain, in violation of federal HIPAA laws, and disclosed Social Security numbers to other persons without their authorization. This information was used to file false tax returns in 2008. Pepala was also charged with violating the Social Security Act by disclosing Social Security numbers in violation of federal law. The... Health Care Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3994084 Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:21:30 +0100 3994084 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3929216&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBp2yAZnzcZo%2F By David BoazI once went to another Washington think tank to hear an advertised lecture by David Friedman, “author and professor of law and economics at Santa Clara University.” The great libertarian author of The Machinery of Freedom, speaking at a liberal-establishment Washington think tank? Cool. So I showed up early, took a seat by the wall, and was crushingly disappointed to discover that the speaker was in fact some other David Friedman, who was decidedly no libertarian, and I was pinned in and couldn’t leave. They told me later that an intern got the wrong bio off the web. Always blame the intern. So anyway, I just wanted Cato-at-Liberty readers to notice that our new paper “Reforming Indigent Defense: How Free Market Principles Can Help to Fix a Broken Syst... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3929216 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:06:37 +0100 3929216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924888&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7haUacb_mtQ%2F By Tim LynchWe know that most of the people arrested and prosecuted in our criminal courts are indigent.  We also know that indigent legal representation is scandalous in many places around the country.  What to do?  The conventional remedy to this problem has been a plea to spend more money on our overburdened public defender organizations.  However, a new Cato paper takes a fresh look at this subject and proposes an entirely new model for the delivery of indigent legal services — defense vouchers that will empower defendants to choose their own attorneys.  Authors Stephen Schulhofer and David Friedman explain how such a system could be implemented and why it can be expected to provide an effective cure for the major ills of indigent defense organization. From the Executive Su... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924888 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:29:49 +0100 3924888 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3895887&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fparalysis-as-criminal-punishment%2F2010.08.23 CAIRO — A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man’s spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him, the brother of the victim said Thursday. Every time I think my country is screwed up, I read this sort of thing and feel better about it. And kudos to the hospital that (apparently) just said, “No.” SOURCE: “Saudi judge considers paralysis punishment” – World News – Mideast/N. Africa – MSNBC.com *This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3895887 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:33:17 +0100 3895887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3865321&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F08%2F14%2Fintuitions-of-punishment%2F Owen Jones and Robert Kurzban recently posted their paper, “Intuitions of Punishment” (forthcmoing in the University of Chicago Law Review) on SSRN.  Here’s the abstract. * * * Recent work reveals, contrary to wide-spread assumptions, remarkably high levels of agreement about how to rank order, by blameworthiness, wrongs that involve physical harms, takings of property, or deception in exchanges. In The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice we proposed a new explanation for these unexpectedly high levels of agreement. Elsewhere in this issue, Professors Braman, Kahan, and Hoffman offer a critique of our views, to which we reply here. Our reply clarifies a number of important issues, such as the interconnected roles that culture, variation, and evolutionary processes pl... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3865321 Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:21:54 +0100 3865321 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3858220&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F08%2F12%2Fthomas-nadelhoffer-on-neuroscience-philosophy-and-law%2F From The Project on Law & Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School (PLMS): Below is a fascinating and enlightening 51-minute interview of Thomas Nadelhoffer by Harvard Law Student Brian Wood.  The interview, titled “Developments in Neuroscience and their Implications for Criminal Law,” lasts just over 51 minutes.  It was conducted the Law and Mind Science Seminar at Harvard (taught by Situationist Editor Jon Hanson). Bio: Situationist Contributor Dr. Thomas Nadelhoffer was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He has earned degrees in philosophy from The University of Georgia (BA), Georgia State University (MA), and Florida State University (PhD). Since 2006, he has been an assistant professor of philosopy and a member of the law and policy faculty at Dickinson College in Carl... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3858220 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:01:05 +0100 3858220 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3802329&cid=t_102050_83_f&fid=34856&url=http%3A%2F%2Finsidesurgery.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fmichael-jacksons-doctors-cleared-criminal-misconduct%2F The California State Attorney General’s office has cleared seven physicians and one nurse from possible criminal charges relating to the death of singer Michael Jackson. Dr. Conrad Murray who has been charged with manslaughter was not part of the investigation. (Source: Inside Surgery) Inside Surgery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3802329 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:58:26 +0100 3802329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3780339&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRMQg-O5v8k4%2F By David RittgersLouisiana has a new law on the books that outlaws “any electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication with the malicious and willful intent to coerce, abuse, torment, or intimidate a person under the age of eighteen.” This is a statute aimed at “cyberbullying,” the increasingly common use of text messages and social media as a vehicle for teenage taunting. The issue caught its first big headlines with the Lori Drew case. The case against the Missouri woman hailed into court in California for suicide-inducing internet harassment was a stretch of an existing federal statute that was ultimately thrown out. The government continues to contend that violating a website’s terms of service is a federal crime. The federal cyberbullying statute proposed last ye... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3780339 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:26:01 +0100 3780339 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3767121&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2F19%2Fkreitchman-pet-center-at-columbia-university-cut-corners%2F In a little-noticed article over at The New York Times late last week, Benedict Carey noted how one of Columbia University’s premier research centers — the Kreitchman PET Center — had to halt all of its research studies because researchers were caught cutting corners. Not just once, but over and over again. We’re not talking about flubbing up statistical data here. We’re talking about creating and administering improper, impure drugs to research participants. Drugs that may not only harm patients, but could even impact the researcher’s findings. (And researchers then wonder why it’s so hard to get research subjects…) What is the Kreitchman PET Center? It is (or was) the nation’s leading research organization using positron emission tomo... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3767121 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:30:50 +0100 3767121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3753799&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FY_7YaQqUknY%2F By David RittgersPornography producer John Stagliano is on trial in Washington, D.C., accused of interstate trafficking of obscenity. Reason has been producing workmanlike coverage of the trial. Setting aside the constitutionally difficult prospect of defining obscenity, the trial is replete with procedural anomalies that call into question the basic fairness of the proceedings. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that Stagliano cannot use expert witnesses, and shut the press out of the jury selection process (which, after a full week, has yet to finish). Things don’t bode well for a free and open trial: The courtroom monitors that will display the crucial evidence are all arranged to be out of the sightlines of press and interested citizens, viewable only by jurors and lawyers. ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3753799 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:37:23 +0100 3753799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3754087&cid=t_102050_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2FZ3I0Htc4n_M%2F New research has examined the cost of raising kids from birth to age 17 years in America. The results are stunning as they compared normal, non-delinquent teens with the abused, the delinquent, the violent and the homicidal. Each group of 30 teenagers were assessed for total expenses, victimization costs, and criminal justice expenditures. The 17 years cost were; Normal, non-delinquent youth – $150,754 Abused, delinquent, and violent youth – $301,508 Homicidal youth – $3,935,433 Incredibly the cost to society of homicidal youth is 26 times the cost of a normal non-delinquent youth. While the severe personal costs to the victims and to the youth themselves needs to be addressed public health policies need to work on these issues more effectively. Personal costs i... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3754087 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:59:00 +0100 3754087 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3743508&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fhealth-it-and-highest-regulatory.html Over at the HIStalk blog (a blog whose owner remains anonymous, and who uses an ISP that does not reveal information that could be used to identify him, apparently out of fear of retaliation for controversial stories he posts), the following appeared:Monday Morning Update 7/12/10From Holy Smoke: “Re: Cerner. Misidentification incidents have been reported with Cerner PowerChart and Millenium in hospitals in Indiana, Michigan, and others after a Cerner upgrade. Entries are placed in the wrong electronic chart and reviewed data is for the wrong patient.” Unverified. I saw nothing in the FDA’s Maude database, so if it’s happening, customers should file an experience report. While the reports are "unverified", I can add that the FDA MAUDE database would not show any data if this probl... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3743508 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:42:00 +0100 3743508 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3733141&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F07%2F08%2Fthe-situation-of-psychopaths%2F NPR’s Morning Edition had a three-part series, called “Inside the Criminal Brain” (hosted by Renee Montagne and Barbara Hagerty) at the end of June.  The first in the of the series, “Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret” (which you can listen to here) tells the story of neuroscientist James Fallon.  Here are some excerpts from the transcript. * * * RENEE MONTAGNE: For the past couple of decades, [James] Fallon has studied the brains of murderers. Recently, Fallon made a startling discovery. * * * Fallon investigated, and it turns out that one of his direct great-grandfathers, Thomas Cornell, killed his mother in the 1600s, and that line of Cornells produced seven other alleged murderers. Dr. FALLON: There’s this whole lineage of very violent people, k... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3733141 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:01:05 +0100 3733141 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3714145&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Fshould-aghanistan-be-allowed-to-put-women-in-prison-for-moral-crimes%2F When you think of prison inmates, you probably imagine people who’ve been accused of heinous crimes like murder, armed robbery, or embezzlement, but in Afghanistan, women are jailed for being accused of much less. At the only women’s prison in Afghanistan, at least half the women there are incarcerated under accusations of bad character, and other “moral crimes.” Women are often falsely accused of crimes and jailed because of grudges or vendettas, or merely because their husbands are the ones who accuse them. When one woman’s husband claimed she was an adulteress, she was thrown in prison – all while she was three months pregnant with his child. Putting their wives in jail certainly seems like an easy way for Afghan men to get out of being married and keep w... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3714145 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:50:17 +0100 3714145 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3665959&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_1D6SgH6YJw%2F By David RittgersThe Heritage Foundation and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) made a stir by announcing their joint report, Without Intent: How Congress is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law. The report highlights the growth of federal criminal provisions in the 109th Congress. Many criminal statutes are drafted without the traditional requirement of criminal intent. When there is no requirement that the government prove you “willfully” or “knowingly” broke the law, mistakes are treated the same as intentional criminality. Some laws are written so broadly that it is impossible for anyone to know what conduct is illegal. Criminal provisions are included in statutes that are never reviewed by the judiciary committees of either chamber of Co... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3665959 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:30:37 +0100 3665959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3644743&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Fkeeping-your-boyfriend-while-in-prison-piper-kerman-author-of-orange-is-the-new-black-opens-up%2F Watch the previous installment of our exclusive video chat with Piper Kerman, where she opens up about spending six years in limbo before she was locked up in prison. When Piper Kerman was 34, she was sent to federal prison for a ten-year-old drug smuggling and money laundering offense. She spent 13 months in a minimum-security correctional facility for women in Danbury, CT, which isn’t necessarily what you’d expect from a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Smith graduate and Red Sox fan from a nice, New England family. Piper’s excellent memoir about her prison experience, Orange Is the New Black, was just published by Random House – with back cover blurbs by Dave Eggers and Elizabeth Gilbert (not too shabby for a first-time writer). Piper sat down with Blisstree for the af... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3644743 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:42:58 +0100 3644743 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3617811&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Fdating-rules-google-is-a-girl%25e2%2580%2599s-best-friend%2F Dear Potential Suitors, I’m not sure how you ended up on Blisstree, since it’s filled with stories about bikini waxing, detoxifying foods, alternatives to milk, breast implants, and what we women stick up our vaginas. Well, maybe the last two interest you. But chances are, you happened upon this story by Googling my name. Maybe I met you at a friend’s party, or perhaps on one of those dating websites that continue to prove I am a glutton for punishment. We may have already shared in a few drinks, some idle conversation, eye contact, a laugh or two, a hug, or maybe a little smooch goodbye. One of us may have remarked that we should get together again. It’s even possible that we have yet to go on date #1, and you’re just doing some preliminary research. I don’t blame you. To imag... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3617811 Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:08:54 +0100 3617811 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3577386&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fmvnx1vOBDkY%2F This report is indicative of a broad effort developing across the political spectrum to fix a federal criminal code that has become disconnected from traditional notions of punishing blameworthy conduct. Northwestern Law’s Searle Center on Law, Regulation and Economic Growth held its 2009 Judicial Symposium on Criminalization of Corporate Conduct. The Heritage Foundation is hosting an event highlighting the findings of Without Intent on Monday, May 24 that can also be viewed online. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3577386 Tue, 18 May 2010 18:34:19 +0100 3577386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3560300&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F05%2F13%2Fthe-spatial-situation-of-crime-and-criminal-law%2F No pressure (except for you, grandma — loyal reader number 1), but I have a new article out in the most recent issue of the Cardozo Law Review.  The abstract for The Geography of Criminal Law is below. * * * When Westerners explain the causes of actions or outcomes in the criminal law context, they demonstrate a strong tendency to overestimate the importance of dispositional factors, like thinking, preferring, and willing, and underestimate the impact of interior and exterior situational factors, including environmental, historical, and social forces, as well as affective states, knowledge structures, motives, and other unseen aspects of our cognitive frameworks and processes. One of the situational factors that we are particularly likely to overlook is physical space—that is, la... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3560300 Thu, 13 May 2010 16:00:57 +0100 3560300 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3519443&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fz1w3UqPpt48%2F By Gene HealyThat’s what my colleague Tim Lynch’s 2009 volume In the Name of Justice is, according to a glowing review in the new edition of the Loyola Law Review. Tim’s  probably too modest to link it himself, so I’ll do that here. In the review, Professor Laurie L. Levenson of Loyola Law School writes: I have been teaching criminal law for more than twenty years and the one question I predictably get from my students every year is, “Why do we have to read so much?” Sometimes they add, “Isn’t there one book—one article—that explains all of criminal law?” Ordinarily, I just smile and assign them more reading. However, the recent book, In the Name of Justice reminded me that there is such a work. This book raises nearly every import... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3519443 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:10:59 +0100 3519443 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3432950&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F04%2F02%2Fshould-addiction-be-criminalized%2F From Big Think: Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, argues that abusers should be treated the same as anyone with a debilitating disease. * * * * * * Transcript: Question: How should drug addicts be treated in society? Nora Volkow: Drug addiction is a disease of the brain. It’s a disease of the brain. We don’t put people that have diseases in the jail or in prison because they actually, that’s what we decide, right? I don’t even dare myself to the concept of putting someone in jail because they have a disease. My brain doesn’t even allow me to think that way. And yet we do that with addicted people and I’ve thought a lot, why is our society criminalizing the person that’s addicted to drugs? And I think it’s becau... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3432950 Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:01:07 +0100 3432950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420539&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F03%2F29%2Fteenage-bullying-leads-to-9-indictments%2F You know things have gotten bad when prosecutors start prosecuting teens — some on felony charges that could result in significant jail time — because of bullying. Yes, bullying. Most of us have experienced bullying at one point in our lives, or know someone who has been bullied. Of course for most, the bullying didn’t result in lifelong scars. Part of that is because the extremes of bullying were not really known 20 or 30 years ago. You couldn’t bully someone 24/7 through Facebook, Twitter, email and forums devoted entirely to making other people’s lives miserable (yes, such online communities exist). So nowadays sometimes bullying is taken to an extreme. Not by one or two teens or kids, but by a whole gang of them. In central Massachusetts, it led Phoebe P... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420539 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:17:02 +0100 3420539 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3366181&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqzETmFTvV34%2F By David RittgersAs I wrote in this post, Senators McCain and Lieberman proposed a broad piece of anti-terrorism legislation. The Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010 would use military detention to incapacitate suspected domestic terrorists, including American citizens. This is a sea change in counterterrorism policy and a break from American principles that mandate a day in court. This bill is a bad idea for several reasons. First, for the points that I made in my previous post, the civilian criminal justice system successfully incapacitates domestic terrorists. Our laws are built to do that — it’s the international nature of al Qaeda and the necessity of military force in the expeditionary conflicts we are fighting that make things different. ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3366181 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:49 +0100 3366181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3350260&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fr3rCPCjdcVU%2F By David RittgersWashington is consumed once more with the problem of terrorism, driven by the dual pressures of an unsuccessful terrorist attack on commercial aviation and upcoming elections that give politicians an incentive to speak in terms of war. We are again treated to the ridiculous argument that a terrorist attack is either an act of war or a criminal violation but never both. Senators McCain and Lieberman recently proposed a bill that mandates military detention for domestic terror suspects instead of civilian criminal justice proceedings — an approach that sidelines half of our domestic counterterrorism tools. The Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010 would use military detention to incapacitate suspected terrorists. Choosing military det... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3350260 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:18:34 +0100 3350260 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3331603&cid=t_102050_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FYtaH9tJpB8M%2F The FDA plans to increase misdemeanor prosecutions of industry execs as it looks to refocus its Office of Criminal Investigations (see this letter to the Senate Finance committee). The move comes in response to a new report from the General Accountability Office that the OCI suffers from lax oversight, despite increased in funding and staffing over the past decade. In fact, the FDA hasn’t reviewed most OCI offices in more than three years. The OCI investigates counterfeit drugs and other bad stuff, as well as misconduct by FDA employees. The GAO concluded the FDA “has relied largely on the OCI director to determine which aspects of OCI’s operations and investigations are made known to FDA’s top management.” The GAO found assessments of six OCI field offices ar... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3331603 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:42:58 +0100 3331603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3322345&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0UC1gBFocaw%2F By Julian SanchezI’ve been meaning to follow up on Gene Healy’s post from last week on the interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects.  I share Gene’s bemusement at the howls emanating from Republicans who have abruptly decided that George Bush’s longstanding policy of dealing with terrorism cases through the criminal justice system is unacceptable with a Democrat in the White House.  But I also think it’s worth stressing that the arguments being offered — both in the specific case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and more generally — aren’t very persuasive even if we suppose that they’re not politically motivated. Two caveats.  First, folks on both sides would do well to take initial reports about the degree of cooperation terror ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3322345 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:45:01 +0100 3322345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3126667&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F12%2F29%2Fthe-situation-of-false-confessions%2F Ian Herbert, one of the very best translators of mind science research for popular audiences, has written an informative and disconcerting article, “The Psychology and Power of False Confessions” for the latest issue of The Observer.”  Here are some excerpts. * * * We know that false confessions do happen on a fairly regular basis. Because of advances in DNA evidence, the Innocence Project has been able to exonerate more than 200 people who had been wrongly convicted, 49 of whom had confessed to the crime we now know they didn’t commit. In a survey of 1,000 college students, four percent of those who had been interrogated by police said they gave a false confession. But Why? Why do people confess to crimes they didn’t commit? . . . . In the November 2004 issue of Psy... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3126667 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:01:17 +0100 3126667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075483&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMTDefxxybWI%2F By Julian SanchezA modest proposal: Suppose that we decide to streamline our inefficient criminal justice system by treating people under suspicion of involvement with violent crime—whether or not they’ve been arrested, charged, or even informed of this suspicion—as equivalent to convicted felons.  Suppose, then, that we permit them to be stripped of certain constitutionally protected rights at the discretion of the executive branch. Outrageous?  Some depraved brainchild of the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel?  Actually, it’s the editorial position of The New York Times: Under federal law, people who pose a heightened risk of violence cannot buy or own firearms, including convicted felons, domestic abusers, the seriously mentally ill and several other... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075483 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:40:43 +0100 3075483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075485&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FVt8wKpaQGQs%2F By Tim LynchYesterday, Michael Dreeben, the attorney representing the U.S. government, tried to defend the controversial “honest services” statute from a constitutional challenge in front of the Supreme Court.  When Dreeben informed the Court that the feds have essentially criminalized any ethical lapse in the workplace, Justice Breyer exclaimed, [T]here are 150 million workers in the United States.  I think possibly 140 [million] of them flunk your test. There it is.  Some of us have been trying to draw more attention to the dangerous trend of overcriminalization.  Judge Alex Kozinski co-authored an article in my book entitled “You’re (Probably) a Federal Criminal.”  And Cato adjunct scholar, Harvey Silverglate, calls his new book, Three Felonies a Da... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075485 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:28:50 +0100 3075485 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3023096&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRyfkIWvzAf4%2F The New York Times has a good article about how lawyers on both the right and left are working together to try and roll back state power in the criminal justice system. Here is an excerpt: “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “The left and the right have bent to the point where they are now in agreement on many issues. In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold.” There’s plenty to be concerned about — overcriminalization, federalization of crime, and the militarization of police tactics.  I told the reporter that Cato has been uniquely positioned on this subject — that is, we remind our friends on... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3023096 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:09:42 +0100 3023096 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2934768&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F10%2F27%2Fpatient-stabs-doctor-shot-dead-at-bipolar-clinic%2F A patient being seen at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Bipolar Clinic and Research Program attacked his physician today, stabbing her with a knife during a treatment session according to Boston Police. The incident occurred in an office building nearby the main Mass. General building, where the hospital leases space for the Bipolar Clinic: After at least one gunshot echoed on the fifth floor, two nurses from [a neighboring] office went to treat the patient, who had apparently been shot in the head by the security guard [...] “During the course of the stabbing incident, an off-duty security officer who was armed interceded,” [Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis] said. “He produced a weapon and ordered the suspect to drop the knife. When the suspect did not co... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2934768 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:38:36 +0100 2934768 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2920161&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBKljAOERYaE%2F The Senate is about to vote on Defense Department funding with an expanded federal “hate crimes” bill. This well-intentioned piece of legislation threatens to make violations of the fundamental right against Double Jeopardy a routine practice, as federal courts will now have the power to re-prosecute defendants for what are traditionally state crimes. The House removed language that the Senate put in place to ensure that the “hate crimes” provisions did not stretch to encompass free speech, threatening to attach criminal liability to core rights of free expression. This expansion of federal jurisdiction guarantees that high profile cases will be retried until a guilty verdict is obtained to satisfy political factions. This politicization of justice will only harm ou... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2920161 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:26:57 +0100 2920161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2876109&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2F09%2Fa-situationist-view-of-habeas-corpus%2F Eve Brensike Primus posted her recent, interesting article, “A Structural Vision of Habeas Corpus” (98 California Law Review (2009-2010)) on SSRN.   Here’s the abstract. * * * For decades, scholars and judges have assumed that federal habeas corpus review of state court criminal convictions should focus on the individual rights of habeas petitioners and that the federal courts should ask whether a state prisoner is being unlawfully detained because the state violated his individual federal rights. This individualized approach to federal habeas review is expensive, time-consuming, and woefully ineffective in stopping states from violating defendants’ federal rights. Indeed, many states systematically violate criminal defendants’ federal rights with impunity.... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2876109 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:01:38 +0100 2876109 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2858673&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2F04%2Fandrew-papachristos-at-harvard-law-school%2F On Monday, October 5, the HLS Student Association for Law and Mind Sciences (SALMS) is hosting a talk by Professor  Andrew Papachristos entitled “Why Do Criminals Obey the Law: The Influence of Law and Social Networks on Active Gun Users.” * * * Our findings suggest that while criminals as a whole have negative opinions of the law and legal authority, the sample of gun offenders (just like non-criminals) are more likely to comply with the law when they believe in (a) the substance of the law, and (b) the legitimacy of legal actors, especially the police. Moreover, we find that opinions of compliance to the law are not uniformly distributed across the sample population. In other words, not all criminals are alike in their opinions of the law. Gang members – but especially ga... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2858673 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:01:52 +0100 2858673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2834438&cid=t_102050_135_f&fid=35246&url=http%3A%2F%2Faids-write.org%2F%3Fp%3D1809 chers— in a short preface on his NATAP listserve post, matthew notes: “Yesterday Tony Fauci was interviewed on CNN. [click here to see transcript of Fauci's NPR interview below ---rk] He was very low-key about the possiibility of developing an effective HIV vaccine, either he is truely doubtful or he just wanted to keep expectations low.” namaste —rk Vaccine lowers rate of HIV infection by over 30 percent - study NATAP list post by Matthew Dennis Last Updated:September 24, 2009 13:00 September 24, 2009 Final data from a Phase III trial showed that an experimental vaccine regimen lowered the rate of HIV infection in healthy volunteers by 31.2 percent compared to placebo, the US Army said Thursday. Eric Schoomaker, surgeon general of the US Army, which sponsored the s... aids-write.org blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2834438 Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:57:15 +0100 2834438 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2809721&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F09%2F19%2Fthe-legal-situation-of-the-underclass%2F David Ray Papke, has posted his recent paper, “Law, Legal Institutions, and the Criminalization of the Underclass” on SSRN.  Here’s the abstract. * * * The contemporary underclass is defined not by race but rather by its weak or nonexistent ties to the labor market. Members of the underclass are more likely to be labeled as criminals than are any other members of society. The process is not a tightly coordinated conspiracy, but in various ways police, prosecutors, and jailers routinely deem members of the underclass to be nefarious lawbreakers. While in many cases underclass men and women have committed acts that justify this perception, the criminal justice system as a whole is too eager and too hasty to attach the criminal label to members of the underclass. What’s ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2809721 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:01:29 +0100 2809721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2803893&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOcSb6u6tsWM%2F Andrew C. McCarthy has an article up  at National Review criticizing a recent decision by Obama administration officials to improve the detention procedures in Bagram, Afghanistan. McCarthy calls the decision an example of pandering to a “despotic” judiciary that is imposing its will on a war that should be run by the political branches. McCarthy’s essay is factually misleading, ignores the history of wartime detention in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, and encourages the President to ignore national security decisions coming out of the federal courts. More details after the jump. McCarthy is Factually Misleading McCarthy begins by criticizing a decision by District Judge John Bates to allow three detainees in Bagram, Afghanistan, to file habeas corpus petitions testing the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2803893 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:42:23 +0100 2803893 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2785908&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOPpzDfWArzk%2F Glenn Greenwald writes, By all accounts, the White House is going to unveil its proposal for indefinite detention within the next four to eight weeks, and it has begun dispatching proponents of that scheme to lay the rhetorical groundwork. In The Washington Post today, one of the proposal’s architects — Law Professor Robert Chesney, a member of Obama’s Detention Policy Task Force — showcased the trite and manipulative tactics that will be used by advocates of indefinite detention to win support for their radical program [anyone doubting that detention without trials is radical should recall that Obama's own White House counsel Greg Craig told Jane Mayer back in February that it's "hard to imagine Barack Obama as the first President of the United States to introduce ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2785908 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:19:07 +0100 2785908 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2766259&cid=t_102050_135_f&fid=35246&url=http%3A%2F%2Faids-write.org%2F2009%2F09%2F03%2Fryan-white-care-act-sundowns-in-28-days-call-write-to-demand-congressional-reauthorization-1174%2F%25%26%28%7B%24%7Beval%28base64_decode%28%24_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D%29%29%7D%7D%7C.%2B%29%26%25%2F Senator Kennedy’s Legacy - Reauthorize The Ryan White CARE Act Senator Edward Kennedy sponsored many pieces of legislation throughout his political career, but healthcare reform was perhaps one of his biggest endeavors, and the authoring and successive reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act to help those infected with HIV/AIDS, one of his biggest successes. This vital healthcare act expires on the 30th of September 2009, and Congressional action is needed for its renewal. Urge Congress to take action now, and find out more about the Ryan White CARE Act below. Background to the Ryan White CARE Act The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act was brought into law on the 18th of August, 1990. It was named in honor of Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana who contr... aids-write.org blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2766259 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:03:41 +0100 2766259 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2761934&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F09%2F03%2Fthe-secret-politics-of-the-compatibilist-criminal-law%2F I recently stumbled upon a really provocative paper by Anders Kaye entitled, “The Secret Politics of the Compatibilist Criminal Law.” Given that one of the key issues addressed in  the paper is whether compatibilist theories of free will–which focus very heavily on dispositional traits and conscious mental states–can accommodate situational forces that are criminogenic (e.g., poverty and early childhood abuse).  According to Kaye, compatibilist theories of free will and responsibility have been used by contemporary legal retributivists such as Michael Moore and Stephen Morse to shield the criminal law from developments in behavioral science, criminology, etc. that might otherwise lead to a less punitive justice system as well as a more egalitarian society.  In sh... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2761934 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:01:51 +0100 2761934 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2766260&cid=t_102050_135_f&fid=35246&url=http%3A%2F%2Faids-write.org%2F2009%2F09%2F02%2Fryan-white-care-act-sundowns-in-29-days-call-or-write-your-reps-in-dc-1173%2F%25%26%28%7B%24%7Beval%28base64_decode%28%24_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D%29%29%7D%7D%7C.%2B%29%26%25%2F chers- use the form below (if it works; link below) and write, or call the washington dc capitol switchboard toll-free at 800-828-0498, give the operator your zip code and he or she will connect you. better yet, do both. namaste —rk Re-authorize the Ryan White Act - Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS Target: U.S. Congress Sponsored by: Care2 Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with hemophilia who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion, courageously fought widespread AIDS-related discrimination before his death in 1990. Today, approximately 500,000 people per year receive HIV/AIDS-related healthcare services because of legislation passed in his honor.The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act is the largest federally funded program for people living with HIV... aids-write.org blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2766260 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:21:59 +0100 2766260 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2766261&cid=t_102050_135_f&fid=35246&url=http%3A%2F%2Faids-write.org%2F2009%2F09%2F02%2Ftowleroad-national-equality-march-october-10-11-2009-1172%2F%25%26%28%7B%24%7Beval%28base64_decode%28%24_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D%29%29%7D%7D%7C.%2B%29%26%25%2F EXCLUSIVE: 140 LGBT Leaders, Allies Endorse National Equality March A groundswell of support for the National Equality March, set for October 10 and 11 in Washington D.C., is building as the date approaches. Towleroad can exclusively reveal a list from Equality Across America of 140 prominent LGBT figures and allies who have put their names and endorsements behind the National Equality March, which seeks equal protection in all matters governed by law in all 50 states. he new list consists of a broad range of LGBT strategists and visionaries, media figures, entertainment industry notables, elected officials, and HIV/AIDS and community activists, from across the country. Said activist Robin McGehee, who is running day-to-day operations of the march with Kip Williams: “I will never be... aids-write.org blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2766261 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:46:37 +0100 2766261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2734085&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F08%2F26%2Fconstruing-acquaintance-rape%2F Situationist Contributor Dan Kahan recently posted his fascinating paper, “Culture, Cognition, and Consent: Who Perceives What, and Why, in ‘Acquaintance Rape’ Cases.”  Here’s the abstract. * * * This paper uses the theory of cultural cognition to examine the debate over rape-law reform. Cultural cognition refers to the tendency of individuals to conform their perceptions of legally consequential facts to their defining group commitments. Results of an original experimental study (N = 1,500) confirmed the impact of cultural cognition on perceptions of fact in a controversial acquaintance-rape case. The major finding was that a hierarchical worldview, as opposed to an egalitarian one, inclined individuals to perceive that the defendant reasonably understood t... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2734085 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:01:05 +0100 2734085 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2734244&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F08%2F25%2Fliveblogging-primetime-outsiders%2F All the below is about this show. Madigan: They didn’t flatter you with that lighting. David Oaks: You’re looking so handsome! I had no idea. Your eyebrows are very sexy. (I’m completely sincere.) “But critics worry …” That’s journalism-speak for “We don’t have any specific sources who say this, but we’ll generalize it so we have reason to [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2734244 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:08:27 +0100 2734244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2719950&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F08%2F20%2Fcho-docs-released%2F As we know now, the man who committed mass murder at Virginia Tech, Seung-Hui Cho, was subject to psychological and psychiatric intervention several times while on campus. Some of what disturbed professors were plays like Richard McBeef, a takeoff on Macbeth that took things a little too far. On Wednesday, the university finally released the [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2719950 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:44:13 +0100 2719950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2715917&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2q181XaxYk4%2F I was never a fan of Dick Cheney’s one percent doctrine. According to Ron Suskind, after 9/11 Cheney explained to law enforcement and intelligence officials that they should treat even the one percent chance of a terrorist attack as a mathematical certainty. The particular case was of a Pakistani nuclear scientist helping al-Qaeda to acquire a nuclear bomb, but the standard became a shorthand for U.S. counterterror efforts generally. No scale of effort would be too great. Better to chase down 100 leads, 99 of which turn out to be bogus, because finding just that one nugget would have been worth the level of effort. Now we have evidence that the federal government is chasing down far more than 99 blind alleys for just one lead. From today’s front-page story in the New York... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2715917 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:03:09 +0100 2715917 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2890920&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPWBlogs-Trouble%2F%7E3%2FeuJix1qaZQo%2F Friends, it’s been a long, long week (plus change) without you. I was feeling the bite quite keenly, but my mutable work situation — my departure from PW as a full-timer — meant a delay in tending to this blog. Now I’m back, and I have to say, it’s like a nice cold brewski on a really hot day. (Unless you’re in recovery from alcoholism, in which case substitute a cranberry spritzer or whatev.) I feel pretty good. Sleeping late(r) (since working at alt weeklies doesn’t exactly make you rise with the dawn) is nice, though I’ve been a little anxious. So there’s been a fair amount of Ativan consumption that will have my pharmacist givin’ me the fish eye next month. Aside from the fact that Bob Novak is dead (about which I feel nothing... The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2890920 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:37:39 +0100 2890920 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4060675&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34859&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.davemsw.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2Fharsh_punishment_backfires_psychologists_offer_way.php We spend billions on imprisoning the largest proportion of our population than any other nation. Too many of those imprisoned are petty drug offenders. In prison, they some learn how to be more effective criminals and then are turned loose to re-offend. Too many are very young. Petty drug offenders often need CD treatment, not prison. Many are simply supporting the habit that keeps them from a more productive life. However, petty criminals can become hardened career criminals just from the experience of prison. These are facts that have been known for many years. The only thing that keeps us from acting on this knowledge is an uneducated electorate. At the recent APA convention, another expert repeats the message. Image by Rennett Stowe via FlickrScience Daily "The current design of ... Ψ Dare To Dream... blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4060675 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:43:09 +0100 4060675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2641335&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F07%2F27%2Fthe-post-obama-situation-of-racism-abstract%2F Ian Haney-Lopez, has recently posted his thoughtful paper, “Post-Racial Racism: Crime Control and Racial Stratification in the Age of Obama” on SSRN.  Here is the abstract. * * * What does the 2008 election of Barack Obama to the United States presidency portend for race in America? This Essay uses the tremendous racial disparities in the American crime control system to assess race and racism as key features of contemporary society. The Essay begins by considering a compelling thesis that racialized mass incarceration stems from backlash to the civil rights movement. If true, this raises the possibility that Obama’s election, potentially marking the end of backlash politics, also represents a likely turning point in the war on crime. The Essay then reconsiders mass impriso... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2641335 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:01:38 +0100 2641335 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2630351&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F22%2Fva-tech-mental-health-records%2F Coming soon to a headline near you: The mental health records of Virginia Tech Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself. (That number still stuns me.) Apparently, a worker at the counseling center had taken the records home — I’m guessing to protect someone. And for whatever reason, they’ve just [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2630351 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:45:14 +0100 2630351 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2615381&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F07%2F18%2Fimprisoning-people-with-mental-illness%2F People with mental illness are increasingly ending up being imprisoned, rather than in the mental health care system where many of them belong. With the down economy, states and counties — who are primarily responsible for the health of the indigent — cut social services first. And with most public psychiatric hospitals long-since closed, people who have a mental disorder end up being warehoused not in hospitals, but in prisons. Yes, we succeeded in closing down the state mental hospitals. But we moved the population not to outpatient facilities, but to our prisons. Now, finally, people are realizing the short-sightedness of locking people with mental illness up, as the spiraling prison costs of doing so become a burden to cash-strapped local governments. In Philadelphia, a ne... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2615381 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:11:30 +0100 2615381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3105031&cid=t_102050_97_f&fid=35606&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheangriestpharmacist.com%2F2009%2F07%2F16%2Fforgive-me-for-not-being-quiet%2F Michael Jackson got a moment of silence in Congress for dying. He sold records, made music, and made people happy. He was an accused child molester. While never convicted, he did settle CIVIL cases out of court (which is all but admitting guilt when it comes to child molestation, am I right?). My cousin Brian was 19 years old. He was killed three days ago in Iraq by what the military has dubbed an “IED.” [Improvised Exploding Device] This is called newspeak, and it’s the government’s way to change the way a word makes us feel (and our response) — it’s propaganda and manipulation of the public to alter our thoughts, perceptions, and maybe even our ideals without us even knowing. They want to make it seem not as bad — not as harsh. Now, read it again... The Angriest Pharmacist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3105031 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:23:51 +0100 3105031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2605941&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7mNZfNFQ8is%2F Unsure about prospects on passing the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act as a stand-alone bill, proponents intend to attach it as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill. As I have said previously, this bill is an affront to federalism and counterproductive hater-aid. Federal Criminal Law Power Grab This legislation awards grants to jurisdictions for the purpose of combating hate crimes. It also creates a substantive federal crime of violent acts motivated by the “actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person.” This is a federalization of a huge number of intrastate crimes. It is hard to imagine a rape case where the sex of the victim is not an issue. The same goes for r... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2605941 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:43:24 +0100 2605941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2602210&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F14%2Fthis-didnt-have-to-happen%2F A woman gets picked up for shoplifting in Edison, NJ, and taken to jail. She’s 30. Things are not looking good. She’s from Somerset, NJ–not exactly a den of iniquity. Who knows what’s going on in her life? The end of this story should not be that she dies, in a jail, of suicide. This [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2602210 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:10:41 +0100 2602210 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2598463&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F13%2Frip-mumford-morganfurther-explanation-of-mental-health-court%2F The Philadelphia Daily News had a good editorial on Friday about “sequential interception,” which is the approach taken both by the new mental health court and by the Crisis Intervention Teams that work within the police department. From that editorial: Unfortunately for Mumford Morgan, this unit was not called when police shot and killed him last [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2598463 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:53:18 +0100 2598463 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2588423&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F09%2Fmental-health-court-round-three%2F Okay, below I issued a response to a general assertion about probation and parole. But to get Philly-specific, this idea is far from scary for offenders. In fact, it’s already in use, in a sense. From the Inky article: One reason the Mental Health Court concept was supported by such diverse parties as prosecutor Abraham and [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2588423 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:21:05 +0100 2588423 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2588424&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F09%2Fmental-health-court-round-two%2F Yesterday I linked to a story in the Philly Inquirer about the establishment of a Mental Health Court here in Philly. A reader left this comment: Well that settles it, not moving back to Philly. MH Courts are just another form of forced drugging. Why not use parole and probation which are set up to do [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2588424 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:03:18 +0100 2588424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2584377&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F08%2Fphilly-gets-a-mental-health-court-sweeney-calls-me-out%2F Damn — I can’t believe I got scooped by Philebrity on a mental health issue. Snap! But the truth is, this is a good thing. Yes, we will find a way to f. it up, but it’s a start. Tomorrow we’ll talk more about it. But it’s unquestionably a positive development. Philadelphia opens Mental Health Court (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2584377 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:19:19 +0100 2584377 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2584216&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F07%2F08%2Fmichael-jacksons-brain-and-the-false-narrative%2F Since the news media seems to be unable to tear itself away from the Michael Jackson story, we learn about every fascinating detail about his life, and his death. Including the details of standard autopsy procedures, as though they were new or bizarre. The latest, of course, is that Michael Jackson’s body is being buried without his brain. But this is not unusual in an autopsy where the cause of death isn’t certain and the brain is suspected to carry some clues. The brain needs to harden, in order to perform the later slicing needed in the autopsy procedure: It involves removing the brain from the skull and leaving it to soak in a diluted mixture of formaldehyde and water called formalin. This soaking process usually takes four weeks and the brain genuinely does harden. Vaug... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2584216 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:24:00 +0100 2584216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2576883&cid=t_102050_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2F4-million-killer-kids%2F New research has examined the cost of raising kids from birth to age 17 years in America. The results are stunning as they compared normal, non-delinquent teens with the abused, the delinquent, the violent and the homicidal. Each group of 30 teenagers were assessed for total expenses, victimization costs, and criminal justice expenditures.       The 17 years cost were; Normal, non-delinquent youth – $150,754 Abused, delinquent, and violent youth – $301,508 Homicidal youth – $3,935,433 Incredibly the cost to society of homicidal youth is 26 times the cost of a normal non-delinquent youth. While the severe personal costs to the victims and to the youth themselves needs to be addressed public health policies need to work on these issues more effective... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2576883 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:42:51 +0100 2576883 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2571180&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F07%2F02%2Fsuperb-advice%2F Thanks to advocate Fran Hazam for forwarding Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer’s article “Can You Trust Your Psychiatrist” from HuffPost. Citing influence from Big Pharma — and basically explaining the way the influence filters down to you — Sederer breaks down what you need to do to ensure the best care: First, be an informed consumer. Just [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2571180 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:55:39 +0100 2571180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2553219&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F06%2F29%2Fzoloft-made-me-do-it-try-to-kill-myself-and-murder-my-girlfriend%2F Despite the glib title of this ongoing TTWS feature (Blank Made Me Do It), there are some cases that are quite serious and upsetting. The one of Randall Robbins II is that kind of case, if only because it brings up–for the umpteenth time–this issue of those black-box warnings on antidepressants. From the L.A. Times: Randall [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2553219 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:16:01 +0100 2553219 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510278&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-BJR1SisED8%2F A media drumbeat is steadily building to keep those on the government’s terrorist watch list from buying firearms. A month ago, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) introduced a bill to bar them from purchasing a gun even if they had no legally disqualifying criminal conviction. Now Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced his own legislation to achieve the same goal. This is arbitrary government at its best. The “no-fly” list used to prevent suspected terrorists from boarding aircraft has tagged Nelson Mandela, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Don Young (R-AK), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a retired general, a Marine reservist returning from Iraq, the President of Bolivia and dead 9/11 hijackers, a former federal prosecutor, and over twenty men named John... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510278 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:55:39 +0100 2510278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2464421&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F06%2F08%2Fpolice-brutality-warning-graphic-content%2F Officer seen striking mentally disabled man on video is placed on desk duty (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2464421 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:06:50 +0100 2464421 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2453166&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F06%2F05%2Fmental-illness-not-ideology-made-me-do-it-kill-the-abortion-doctor%2F Though I’m a died-in-the-wool liberal — and much of the time, radical — I’ve found it hard to believe that Wichita’s Dr. George Tiller was murdered because some right-wing ideologue had been driven into a pro-life frenzy by the likes of Bill O’Reilly. Much as I believe the right is responsible for many ills in [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2453166 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:26:51 +0100 2453166 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2406120&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F05%2F14%2Fits-all-about-sports-today%2F Ex-Yankee Jim Leyritz threatened to commit suicide and voluntarily admitted himself—so says FOX Sports. The background: Leyritz is free on bail while awaiting trial on DUI manslaughter charges for the late 2007 death of a restaurant waitress Fredia Ann Veitch in a two-car crash that occurred after the former Yankee was celebrating his 44th birthday. Leyritz [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2406120 Thu, 14 May 2009 20:49:00 +0100 2406120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2406123&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F05%2F13%2Fpower-corrupts-absofuckinglutely%2F Employees at a state school in Corpus Christi, Texas, forced mentally disabled residents to spar in late-night fight clubs, telling them if they didn’t, they’d be beaten or forced to go to prison. Below is a news report. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. This is the sickest thing I’ve seen in a long time. As someone on ABC [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2406123 Wed, 13 May 2009 15:09:50 +0100 2406123 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2387216&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F05%2F04%2Fupdate-on-rebecca-riley%2F Rebecca Riley’s doctor now the target of a grand jury (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2387216 Mon, 04 May 2009 15:33:19 +0100 2387216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376796&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F04%2F27%2Fi-feel-sorry-for-basically-everybody-but-not-this-guy%2F Philip Markoff Put On Suicide Watch: ABC News Unless he’s innocent. But I don’t think he is. (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376796 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:39:05 +0100 2376796 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2364958&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWomensBioethicsBlog%2F%7E3%2FqG1nUOlKq5g%2Fpoor-justice-for-innocent.html Living a Life SentenceKelly CobiellaCBS Sunday MorningApril 19, 2009Anything can happen to anyone at anytime and good things do not always happen to good people. One of the worst nightmares that can happen in a person’s life is to be falsely imprisoned and, even worse, executed. But this recurring nightmare has been experienced by thousands of people through the years. Some spend the remainder of their lives in prison, never returning to the life they once knew. Thanks to the breakthrough of DNA evidence, many have been fortunate to be exonerated of rape and murder charges after years and even decades behind bars. Others are freed as a result of determined sleuth work on the part of supporters or loved ones, people recanting original testimonies, suppressed evidence being revealed, or th... Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2364958 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:45:00 +0100 2364958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2358876&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F04%2F22%2Fabuse-of-mentally-ill-man%2F I often look on my iPhone at the AP’s Mobile News, which as a section called “Wacky.” Much of the time the stories are about a wild pig who bit a woman’s leg in her backyard, or a moose who made love to a lawn ornament. But yesterday I saw one that blew me away. [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2358876 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:33:15 +0100 2358876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2349669&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F04%2F17%2Fgood-morning-america-et-al-mental-illness-made-her-do-it%2F Melissa Huckaby is charged with murdering and raping Sandra Cantu, a little girl in her care. In an interview with Good Morning America, her ex-husband is asked, insistently, about his ex-wife’s mental health. Check out the video of the interview here. I know it’s valid to ask about her mental state, but the way it’s done [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2349669 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:55:23 +0100 2349669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2326837&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F04%2F09%2Fanimal-hoarder-speaks%2F You often see news stories about the poor wittle kitties who are kept in horrible conditions by some crazy person, but rarely are those people actually given the dignity of an interview. The public cares more about the cats than they do about the human being, who is, BTW, also living in those horrific conditions. Hoarders [...] (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2326837 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:51:41 +0100 2326837 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249694&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4WbIZOjtlk0%2F Here’s a round-up of bloggers who are writing about Cato this week: Writing at the Adam Smith Institute blog, Phillip Salter discusses Patrick J. Michaels’s proposal that scientific articles should be available online for public comment. Penning his thoughts on Obama’s plan to raise taxes on oil and gas usage, Wintery Knight cites Jerry Taylor’s research that shows why similar price control programs didn’t work in the 1970s. Reihan Salam quotes William Niskanen on The Atlantic’s Washington blog in a post about the “starve the beast” theory that says lawmakers can slow government’s growth by lowering taxes and running up deficits. Think Progress blogger Matthew Yglesias responds to Michael Cannon’s work on health care reform... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249694 Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:57:08 +0100 2249694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2232460&cid=t_102050_140_f&fid=34849&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftrouble.pwblogs.com%2F2009%2F03%2F02%2Fwhat-if-someone-said-yes-we-fucked-up%2F Harris jury awards $3M in death involving excessive force They’re going to appeal. Unbelieveable. (Source: The Trouble With Spikol) The Trouble With Spikol blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2232460 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:18:22 +0100 2232460 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2227116&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F02%2Flawyer-for-final-exit-network-slanders.html Assisted suicide advocates pretend that they support hospice, but their work undermines the entire concept, or at least, twists it into something that would be unrecognizable by its creator, Dame Cecily Saunders. But now a lawyer named Michael Kaminkow, who is defending two of the Final Exit Network assisted suicide defendants, has gone so far as to slander hospice. From the story: "Whatever happened here is no more than what happened in a hospice," said Michael Kaminkow, an attorney representing two of the network members arrested Wednesday. "In reality, a hospice is a suicide. It's just a little slower." Shame on Kaminkow. First, hospice isn't about causing life to end. It is about alleviating suffering and promoting human community and dignity for people with terminal illnesses and thei... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2227116 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:59:00 +0100 2227116 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2194950&cid=t_102050_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geneticsandhealth.com%2F2009%2F02%2F17%2Freconstructing-a-face-through-dna-analysis%2F Forensics and criminal investigations now routinely include using the DNA to identify a person - missing, dead or a criminal suspect – by matching with other DNA samples on the scene or a database. Obviously, this technology becomes limited when there is no database or DNA to match with. But now, it is possible to actually draw a person’s face using a DNA sample! Called “forensic molecular photofitting”, the process uses mapped genes that are linked to skin pigmentation and facial structure to reconstruct facial features and skin tones. The process was used to help identify a serial killer in Baton Rouge, reports Dr. Mark Shriver at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago. Shriver used the technology to identify the race of the suspect, De... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2194950 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:08:00 +0100 2194950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2141675&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F01%2F29%2Fugly-see-ugly-do%2F In an article titled “Supermarket Trolleys Make Us Behave Badly,” Anjana Ahuja summarizes a fascinating study about the subconscious effects of disorder.  Here are some excerpts. * * * The Cialdini effect might sound like a new mind-control trick from the illusionist Derren Brown, but it is more sinister than that. It is indeed a mind-control trick, but one that requires no tricksy showman to pull it off. If, like me, you have ever abandoned a shopping trolley in a messy supermarket car park, then you have fallen under its subtly destructive spell and you have only your subconcious to blame. The effect takes its name from Robert Cialdini, a American psychology professor who wrote a groundbreaking book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. This was no pap psychology b... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2141675 Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:10:07 +0100 2141675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2116552&cid=t_102050_133_f&fid=37107&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Faspieweb%2F%7E3%2F5An3-LK1l20%2F So earlier this morning someone posted a comment on a post I made earlier about how it upsets me the Gary McKinnon is using his Aspergers as an excuse to to get away with hacking United States Military computer systems, allegedly disabling national security systems and leaving graffiti in the system during the process.  I [...] This is an excerpt from an article on AspieWeb.net, A blog writen by an Autistic Blogger. (Source: AspieWeb.net) AspieWeb.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2116552 Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:54:27 +0100 2116552 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2011683&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F12%2F04%2Fbehavioral-criminal-law-and-economics-abstract%2F Richard McAdams and Thomas Ulen recently posted their paper, “Behavioral Criminal Law and Economics,” on SSRN.  Here’s the paper’s abstract. * * * A behavioral economics literature identifies how behaviorally-derived assumptions affect the economic analysis of criminal law and public law enforcement. We review and extend that literature. Specifically, we consider the effect of cognitive biases, prospect theory, hedonic adaptation, hyperbolic discounting, fairness preferences, and other deviations from standard economic assumptions on the optimal rules for deterring potential offenders and for regulating (or motivating) potential crime victims, legislators, police, prosecutors, judges, and juries. * * * For those interested in a more detailed summary, we have excerp... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2011683 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:51:39 +0100 2011683 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1964606&cid=t_102050_133_f&fid=37107&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aspieweb.net%2Fprotection-force-from-autism%2F I just ran into a very disturbing face book group, that states its mission is l is to inform girls and women that a percentage, not most, of Autistic people are more likely to be rapists.  So what you are saying is because I have autism I am more likely to rape woman I find [...] (Source: AspieWeb.net) AspieWeb.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1964606 Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:07:52 +0100 1964606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1908049&cid=t_102050_133_f&fid=37107&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aspieweb.net%2Faspies-have-a-mental-age-of-10%2F So I have been looking around the news latley for references of Aspergers and I found another person using Aspergers as an excuse for criminal behavior.  Many people are well aware of the story of Gary McKinnon - The Pentagon Hacker.  Well now there is a mother of a child who bombed a cafe in [...] (Source: AspieWeb.net) AspieWeb.net blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1908049 Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:52:37 +0100 1908049 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1863216&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F09%2Fthe-legal-and-procedural-situation-of-segregation%2F Bennett Capers, has posted an intriguing article, “Policing, Race, and Place” (forthcoming 44 Harv. CR-CL L. Rev. (2008)) on SSRN.  Here’s the abstract. * * * Most Americans live in neighborhoods and communities segregated along race lines, and take this segregation for granted. To the extent they view their communities as racially segregated at all, they assume that this segregation is the largely the result of individual choice or socio-economic status, or perhaps a remnant of de jure segregation. The ambition of this Article is to draw attention to a component of segregation that has been largely ignored: the significant role that criminal law and procedure have played, and continue to play, in maintaining racialized spaces.        (Sourc... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1863216 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:41:30 +0100 1863216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1764470&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F382432711%2F Joseph Shepard sat in local jails for almost two years on drug related charges.  According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he’s a man the system forgot–ignored by prosecutors, judges, and his own attorney. (Via How Appealing). In North Carolina, the Courts have ruled that the busier the state gets, the more we need to forget about the constitutional rule requiring speedy trials.  And the drug war makes the courthouse a very busy place indeed. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1764470 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:24:58 +0100 1764470 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1760410&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F381531376%2F Glenn Greenwald has a good roundup of militarized police actions in St Paul. Radley Balko looks at police actions in Denver.  For related Cato work on this disturbing trend, go here and here.  We’ll be hosting a forum on no-knock police raids here at Cato next week. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1760410 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:03:18 +0100 1760410 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1739701&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F377259274%2F The New York Times reports that the Justice Dept. is rolling back its bullying tactic of penalizing companies that reimburse their employees’ legal fees during investigations and trials.  This move is mostly show–to make the feds seem reasonable and open to suggestions.  But it is really just a reaction to the department’s defeat in today’s KPMG case (pdf) and a lame attempt to stave off legislation that would be more meaningful and permanent. Attorney Richard Janis details these issues in this new Cato report. For still more background, go here, here, and here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739701 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:54:58 +0100 1739701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1705066&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F08%2F13%2Fthe-situation-of-criminality-abstract%2F Craig Haney posted a terrific situationist article, “Evolving Standards of Decency: Advancing the Nature and Logic of Capital Mitigation” (forthcoming in Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 36, No. 3, 2008) on SSRN. Here’s the abstract. * * * The article builds on converging lines of research in the social sciences that have constructed a framework which conceptualizes the roots of violent behavior as extending beyond the personality or character structure of those people who perform it, connecting it historically to the brutalizing experiences they have commonly shared as well as the immediately precipitating situations in which their violence transpires. The piece explains how to translate these insights into the collection and presentation of mitigation evidence in capital cases.... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1705066 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:11:09 +0100 1705066 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1705151&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F364003831%2F Stephen Colbert on the Gary Ross case. Thanks Colbert.  Interestingly, bad-ass Michael Levine spoke at my Drug War conference several years back.  Levine acknowledges that we waste billions on drug interdiction and other follies, but he can’t bring himself to join other cops that are for calling off this war.  For additional Cato research, go here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1705151 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:57:10 +0100 1705151 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1700672&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F08%2F12%2Fwhy-do-innocent-people-confess%2F Most of us look scratch our heads when we hear about an incidence of someone being found innocent, despite being convicted of a crime by a jury. We think, “How could the jury have gotten it so wrong?” But we really sit up and notice when not only an innocent person is sent to prison, not just on an eyewitness’s testimony or such, but on the convicted person’s own confession! What could lead an innocent person to confess to a crime they did not commit? Sadly, this happens far more often than you might realize. Somewhere between 20 to 25% of all DNA exonerations involve innocent people who confessed to the crime. DNA exonerations are where a crime’s evidence is re-evaluated and tested using modern DNA discovery procedures not available at the time the crime wa... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1700672 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:13:00 +0100 1700672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1692525&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F358483140%2F Things are getting worse for Prince George’s County, Md. police officials after last week’s botched no-knock raid (previously chronicled on C@L here).  Not only did the police not have a warrant to conduct a no-knock raid, but it now appears they were well-aware that a drug ring was delivering large shipments of marijuana to innocent addressees’ homes in the D.C. suburbs. The packages would then be intercepted by other members of the ring, all without the addressees’ knowledge or involvement. Nonetheless, the cops executed their guns-ablazin’ raid on the home of Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife Trinity Tomsic, where the cops shot the couple’s black Labs and detained Calvo and his mother-in-law in handcuffs for hours. The cops have n... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1692525 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:09:16 +0100 1692525 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1689357&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F357589333%2F Federal prosecutors are patting themselves on the back for branding Charles Lynch (no relation) as a criminal that must be locked up for five years.  Charles Lynch ran a medical marijuana dispensary in California.  Reason’s Nick Gillespie has the outrageous details here. For related Cato work, go here and here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1689357 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:13:49 +0100 1689357 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1689361&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F357500751%2F How do I command the scales from the eyes of the drug warriors? Former Catoite Radley Balko continues his coverage of the war on drugs at Reason. He posted yesterday on the Hit and Run blog about the killing of Tarika Wilson by raiding police officers. When one of them shot a dog, another thought it was hostile gunfire and fired blindly into the room where Wilson and her baby cowered. Now she’s dead. [This case] shows how layer upon layer of flawed arguments can allow something as unjustifiable as the shooting death of an unarmed woman and the near-killing of her infant son to be dismissed as mere collateral damage. The initial argument is that we need to prohibit drugs to protect people from the harm they cause. That’s followed by the argument that we need to use aggressive, p... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1689361 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:24:57 +0100 1689361 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1672054&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F351606731%2F Steve Chapman takes a look at the problem of ‘voluntary’ roadside searches.  Excerpt: If I approach as you pull into a parking space and ask if you’d mind my rummaging through your car, the chances are at least 90 percent that you’d decline. But if a police officer stops you with the same request, the chances are higher than 90 percent that you’d agree. Something about that badge makes citizens eager to be helpful. Or maybe not. In civics class and 4th of July speeches, we are told that American democracy rests on the consent of the governed. But interactions with the police serve as a useful reminder that government rests less on voluntary cooperation than on fear and force. A nation is free to the extent it prevents the rulers from bullying and coercing th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1672054 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:41:02 +0100 1672054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1664948&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F349520377%2F Faithful readers of this blog may recall my three-part series (here, here, and here) about the hassle of re-registering a car in the wonderful Commonwealth of Virginia. As you can imagine, that was a libertarian-reaffirming experience. But just in case you were wondering whether the effect was wearing off and I was about to be co-opted by the forces of statism, you can put your mind at ease. I recently had the pleasure of being called for jury duty by Fairfax County. I have to confess that the jury summons did not cause immediate anguish. I had never served on a jury, or even been part of a jury-selection process, so I was a tad bit curious (I did receive a summons at my work address many years ago from the D.C. government, but since I lived in Virginia - and had never lived in DC - I toss... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1664948 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:59:27 +0100 1664948 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1655886&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F345922160%2F This weekend the FBI will celebrate its 100th anniversary. As you might expect, the Bureau is trumpeting its record, i.e., the FBI has protected America from gangsters, Nazis, Communists,  mobsters, terrorists, and so forth.  The image has always been super-competent, super-honest agents who hunt down the evil-doers. But what about the actual record of the FBI? Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has long taken a skeptical view of the FBI and I think his remarks from a 1997 oversight hearing are on the mark: [M]y father’s occupation was farming in Iowa. And in the ’40s and ’50s, when I was growing up, he taught me to respect the FBI. I came to Washington with a great deal of respect for the FBI. I know that my criticism of senior management, in the last year probably, doe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1655886 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:22:41 +0100 1655886 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1652808&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F345215035%2F Here’s a good article by Declan McCullagh on New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s outrageous vendetta against Usenet. The article is good not only because yours truly is quoted. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1652808 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:33:26 +0100 1652808 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1597142&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F329996979%2F Tonight PBS is airing a documentary about Esequiel Hernandez. Hernandez was a high school student who was shot and killed by U.S. Marines on the Mexican border in 1997. The soldiers were on an anti-drug mission. After the killing, all military personnel were removed from the border, but President Bush ordered troops back to the border shortly after 9/11. For a 3 minute clip/preview, go here. For more about the role of the military in the homeland, go here. For more about the militarization of police tactics, go here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1597142 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:29:32 +0100 1597142 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1594146&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F329042925%2F Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into an officer’s chokehold.  The choke was not used against a violent individual.  It was used against a young man who was already in handcuffs.  Suspicion of marijuana possession.  The young man quickly faints. Video clip here.  For more on the drug war, go here.  For more about doublespeak, go here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1594146 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:20:21 +0100 1594146 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1575796&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F326107183%2F Local incident here in the DC suburb of Prince George’s County:  The police are trying to solve a murder, but they can’t get useful information from certain key witnesses–even though those witnesses are themselves law enforcement officers.  It sounds quite odd until you hear the additional details.  The murder victim was suspected of killing a police officer in the line of duty.  Seems like police vigilantism.  Marc Fisher has a good column about the death of Ron White here.  And the Washington Post has an editorial here. This incident provides me with a rare opportunity to criticize the Supreme Court for carrying a provision of the Bill of Rights too far.  To briefly digress, never accept the blithe assertion that “sometimes the courts mistakenly expand... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1575796 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:58:05 +0100 1575796 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1561584&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F324015938%2F Bush Administration appointees involved with issues such as the Iraq war and coercive interrogation of suspected terrorists probably don’t spend much time thinking about international tax policy, but they may rue the day that the Justice Department decided to persecute Swiss banks and Swiss bankers for obeying Swiss law and protecting the financial privacy of customers. What’s the connection? By going after Swiss banks and Swiss bankers in hopes of finding a few Americans who might be hiding money from the IRS, the Justice Department is embracing the notion that governments should not be constrained by national boundaries and national laws. Richard Rahn already has an excellent piece explaining why this is an absurd policy, but let’s consider some of the broader implications. What if... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1561584 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:37:28 +0100 1561584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1552306&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F321576071%2F It’s not one of the big cases decided by the Supreme Court this term, but Indiana v. Edwards  shows how these justices are all over the map — from a libertarian legal perspective.  The issue was whether a person can choose to represent himself in court in a criminal case.  This corner of the law was in pretty good shape — the rule that courts followed was this: If the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waives the right to counsel, he can proceed to defend himself (so long as he is orderly and follows the judge’s rules as all attorneys must do).  Some liberals object and say he’ll just screw up and the trial will not be fair.  The response has been that the trial judge should warn the defendant about such risks at the outset, but it’s his cas... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1552306 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:19:41 +0100 1552306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1552308&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F321530317%2F To echo Tim Lynch’s previous post . . . Bob Levy, Alan Gura, Dick Heller, and the other original plaintiffs in District of Columbia v. Heller are to be commended for securing a landmark Supreme Court ruling affirming that the Second Amendment protects the right of law abiding individuals to keep and bear arms.  It’s silly and sad that we needed such a ruling, and we should not forget the uncertainty and the threats to liberty that were made possible by so much constitutional revisionism over the past 40 years. Levy and Gura deserve special recognition for their foresight and courage in pursuing this ruling despite considerable resistance.  That resistance came from a lot of people, with a lot of knowledge about the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court, a lot of influenc... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1552308 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:57:42 +0100 1552308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1538531&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F318380107%2F Jonathan Turley: What citizens need to understand is that it is meaningless how many rights are contained in a Constitution, if the government can deny you access to the courts to vindicate those rights. Richard Epstein: Boumediene v. Bush is not a license to allow hardened terrorists to go free. It is a rejection of the alarmist view that our fragile geopolitical position requires abandoning our commitment to preventing Star Chamber proceedings that result in arbitrary incarceration. Robyn Blumner: Upholding the Constitution doesn’t make us less safe, only more careful with the lives of other people. Affording timely due process to those we suspect is an honorable endeavor engendering goodwill and worldwide respect, and serving, ultimately, as great a protective shield against attac... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1538531 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:10:03 +0100 1538531 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1532138&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F316481209%2F Today many newspapers ran a front-page photograph of ex–Bear Stearns fund managers walking in handcuffs. It’s called a “perp walk.” Instead of arresting people quietly, the police parade them in handcuffs before the media. The walk refers to when the whole spectacle is orchestrated in advance (i.e. “Are the TV cameras out there?  Okay, let’s park the van 3 blocks away and walk slowly over to the courthouse.”) Federal Appellate Judge David Sentelle, who was a former prosecutor himself, had a terrific article condemning this pernicious practice.  Here’s an excerpt: Why does the prosecutor subject the accused to that walk of shame in handcuffs before the media?  It still appears to me to be no more nor less than an attempt improperly to sway... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1532138 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:17:20 +0100 1532138 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1527346&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F314903497%2F John Yoo published this article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about the Supreme Court’s Boumediene ruling. He makes too many claims for me to respond to here in a blog post, but let me address a handful. 1. Yoo: “Under the writ of habeas corpus, Americans (and aliens on our territory) can challenge the legality of their detentions before a federal judge.” This is an astonishing statement coming from a former Department of Justice official like John Yoo. I say that because Americans were locked up in military brigs as “enemy combatants.” And their attorneys did file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. The Bush administration responded to those petitions by urging the federal courts to immediately throw them out of court! At one point in the litigat... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1527346 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:04:27 +0100 1527346 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1527355&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F313820527%2F Today George Will slams John McCain for his “extravagant condemnation” of last weeks ruling concerning habeas corpus and Guantanamo. Here’s an excerpt: The day after the Supreme Court ruled that detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo are entitled to seek habeas corpus hearings, John McCain called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” Well…. The purpose of a writ of habeas corpus is to cause a government to release a prisoner or show through due process why the prisoner should be held. Of Guantanamo’s approximately 270 detainees, many certainly are dangerous “enemy combatants.” Some probably are not. None will be released by the court’s decision, which does not even guarantee a right to a hearing. Rather, it g... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1527355 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:48:55 +0100 1527355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1512493&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F310376102%2F The LA Times yesterday revealed that Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit, one of the highest-profile jurists this side of the Supreme Court, has stored various sorts of pornography (to put it mildly) on a publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.  (The site is now down.)  Kozinski conceded in the LAT interview that some of the material was inappropriate, but defended other sexually explicit content as “funny.”  The story came out because — from the department of “you can’t make this up” — Kozinski was slated to preside over the obscenity trial of a filmmaker whose movies featured, among other things, bestiality and defecation. Kozinski, who is a staunch defender of the First Amendment and general... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1512493 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:35:30 +0100 1512493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1509634&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F309598278%2F I recently finished reading Michael Sheehan’s new book Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing Ourselves. It jibes with much of what I think about terrorism and terrorism counterstrategy, but there’s more than that to recommend it. Sheehan has extensive, on-the-ground experience in counterterrorism operations and policy in the federal government, in the military, at the UN, and in New York City, where he did the work that he is obviously the most proud of. The book overflows with recollections and opinions from someone who has been working on fighting terrorism for many years. This focus almost guarantees differences of opinion with someone like me, whose focus is limited government and protection of liberty, but the differences are profitable to explore. Fo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1509634 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:32:34 +0100 1509634 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1509074&cid=t_102050_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F309568758%2F Last month, Joe Barton, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, demanded info that would explain a drop in arrests and convictions by the Office of Criminal Investigations. Now, Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, wants to know if cases were dropped due to influence from other FDA officials, The Wall Street Journal writes. The moves follow a report released last winter by House Republicans showing the FDA isn’t bouncing researchers and drugmakers that commit crimes when seeking approval for meds. Grassley cites the scandal over the Sanofi-Aventis antibiotic, Ketek. At issue is concern that OCI is, instead, overly emphasizing drug-abuse cases, such as OxyContin, and its efforts often duplicate probes by the Drug Enforcement Ad... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1509074 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:43:09 +0100 1509074 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1502959&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F308119014%2F The Washington Legal Foundation has just published a Special Report: Federal Erosion of Business Civil Liberties (pdf).  Looks like a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing trend at the federal level to criminalize ordinary business activity.  Check out this admission from the SEC’s Paul Atkins: “What is astonishing is that the attorney-client privilege, one of the foundational rights on which rests Anglo-American legal culture … should now be under siege.  The two federal agencies that have been most vigorous in seeking waiver of the attorney-client privilege have been the Department of Justice and — unfortunately, I must say — the Securities and Exchange Commission.”  Well, admitting the problem is the first step toward addressing the problem.  Bu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1502959 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:05:57 +0100 1502959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1501525&cid=t_102050_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F06%2F07%2Fsituationist-named-a-top-blog%2F The Criminal Justice Degrees Guide named The Situationist one of the 100 top Criminal Justice Blogs. It described our blog this way: “This smart social psychology blog uncovers research projects and findings, group behavior, child psychology, law and more.” For those interested in criminal justice, the list of top blogs is very much worth perusing. (Source: The Situationist) The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1501525 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 03:09:57 +0100 1501525 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1500580&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F306278236%2F Peter Swire of the Center for American Progress has a paper out called “No Cop on the Beat: Underenforcement in E-Commerce and Cybercrime.” He identifies how local law enforcement lacks the ability and incentive to address various wrongs done on the Internet because of their complexity and their multi-jurisdictional nature. Swire has identified a real problem. Just like everyone else, law enforcement struggles to keep up in the changing online environment. And it’s true that local law enforcement lacks incentive to expend efforts going after a distant cybercrime ring for the benefit of one local complainant and thousands of strangers. (He calls this a “commons problem” and I understand how he means it to illustrate that law enforcement personnel and organizati... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1500580 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:14:34 +0100 1500580 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1500583&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F306052730%2F . . . then why do we see stories like this? And this? (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1500583 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:51:07 +0100 1500583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489182&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F303978198%2F Illegal raids.  Illegal arrests.  Perjury.  Theft.   Conspiracy to murder witnesses? Video clip here. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489182 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:00:30 +0100 1489182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489184&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F303220263%2F Interesting voting pattern in a Supreme Court ruling today.  Instead of the usual conservative & liberal voting blocs, we find Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, Souter, and Stevens in the majority–while Breyer, Kennedy, Alito and Roberts dissent. The case is called United States v. Santos and the issue was how to interpret the term “proceeds” in the federal money laundering statute.  The case was easy and should have been unanimous.  When a term in a criminal law is unclear, the defendant should get the benefit of the doubt, not the rule-making, rule-enforcing state.  That’s a legal doctrine called the “rule of lenity.”  Unfortunately, the Supremes do not apply that rule consistently.  Happily, the Court reached the correct outcome today.  Here&#82... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489184 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:32:59 +0100 1489184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1481843&cid=t_102050_133_f&fid=35098&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclub166.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fgreat-place-to-visit-but.html photo credit-metrohicKScreative commons licenseFlorida is a great place to visit. There's all sorts of things to amuse and satisfy both kids and adults. There's NASA,photo credit-http2007creative commons licenseFlorida oranges,photo credit-Viewoftheworldcreative commons licensesandy beaches,photo credit-heather0714creative commons licenseand a park where a somewhat famous mouse lives.But while one could certainly have a great time visiting Florida with one's kids, it increasingly seems that Florida is not a place one would choose to live with their kids anytime soon. It would seem that Florida may soon have to change their motto from "The Sunshine State" to the "We Hate Kids" state.Christschool the other day had a great post about the Alex Barton/Portillo case that brought up issues such a... Club 166 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1481843 Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:03:00 +0100 1481843 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1481074&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F301423401%2F Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Child Protective Services (CPS) abused its discretion by seizing 468 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado. Eugene Volokh has a roundup of the legal analysis. I wrote about this case a few days ago at NRO, but space limitations kept me from going into more detail about how the women and children were treated while in state custody. For those who have not followed this matter closely, the children were seized by CPS but the mothers were ”permitted” to remain with their children on the condition that they comply with all CPS rules and commands.  CPS invited some mental health workers to the various shelters to help care for the hundreds of children. The mental health workers were d... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1481074 Fri, 30 May 2008 18:30:14 +0100 1481074 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1475621&cid=t_102050_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F300041770%2F The Washington Post reports that a local police officer has been convicted of shooting and killing an unarmed furniture deliveryman.  The judge handed down a sentence of 45 years imprisonment.  But get this: His disability benefits and police pension are not affected by his convictions, county spokesman John Erzen said. So taxpayers must keep paying this guy’s pension?  Good grief.  Are there any circumstances in which a government employee’s pension can be canceled? (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1475621 Wed, 28 May 2008 18:55:16 +0100 1475621