The newly elected District Attorney of Alameda County, which includes the high-crime city of Oakland, has announced new policies requiring the prosecutors in her office to seek the minimum sentences possible for convicted criminals, including those who use guns. For example, in the case of a gang member who fires a gun into an occupied car injuring a passenger, the …
Poll Paints Mixed Picture of Californian’s Views
A Quinnipiac University poll of registered California voters was released yesterday. While the survey was heavily focused on political views with questions about Governor Gavin Newsom running for president, which democrat should replace Senator Dianne Feinstein and how they feel about Vice President Kamala Harris, there were other responses that indicate discontent by voters of all political stripes regarding …
Rakusen (Respondent) v Jepsen and others (Appellants)
1 March 2023 | [2023] UKSC 9 | UKSC 2021-0188
R (on the application of Day) (Appellant) v Shropshire Council (Respondent)
1 March 2023 | [2023] UKSC 8 | UKSC 2021-0031
Chicago Dumps Soft-on-Crime Mayor
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has conceded defeat, the Chicago Tribune reported at 9:00 CST Tuesday. At about that time, the New York Times listed the results as 36.4% for Paul Vallas and 20.2% for Brandon Johnson, with Mayor Lightfoot third. Plurality winner Mr. Vallas has run on a tough-on-crime platform, the WSJ reports. He has the backing of the Chicago …
Law Would Force Illinois Retailers to Hire Guards
While homicides are down slightly in Chicago this year, according to the Chicago Police Department, robbery, sexual assault, motor vehicle theft, aggravated battery, burglary and theft over the first two months of 2023 are up 52% compared to last year. Almost 4,000 additional crimes in just two months. Chicago’s progressive District Attorney Kim Foxx, and Mayor Lori defund-the-police Lightfoot share …
Sentencing Statutes and Logic for Lawyers
Statutes are generally drafted by lawyers on legislators’ staffs. Unfortunately, too many lawyers did not take basic logic as undergraduates, and it is not generally taught in law school. The U.S. Supreme Court has now taken up a case to unravel the logic of a bit of statutory drafting that could have been written more clearly. In 2018, Congress passed …
Missouri AG Moves to Fire St. Louis Prosecutor
Federalism allows cities and states to adopt widely varying policies regarding crime and justice, so long as the policies comply with the U.S. Constitution. When elected officials implement policies that result in increased crime or perceived injustice, the voters usually get the last word. This happened last year in San Francisco, when voters recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin for …
SCOTUS Gives Green Light for Florida Execution
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied a stay of execution to Florida murderer Daniel Dillbeck and declined to take up his case. No dissent is noted. The Florida Attorney General’s statement of the question presented follows the break: Dillbeck killed Deputy Hall with his own gun in 1979 while fleeing from an attempted murder investigation in Indiana. He negotiated a …
Supreme Court Reinstates Review of Arizona Murderer’s Case
The U.S. Supreme Court today vacated an Arizona Supreme Court decision denying a murderer’s challenge to his death sentence. At the time the high court took up the case, CJLF considered filing an amicus brief in support of the state but decided we really couldn’t support the Arizona court’s decision. I am not at all surprised at the outcome but …