27 April 2022 | [2022] UKSC 10 | UKSC 2019-0215
Can You Spot the Commonality?
As liberal programs for less accountability for criminals take root in one city after another — “criminal justice reform” is its intentionally opaque name — criminals have noticed. So have their victims. The quality and safety of urban life cascade downhill, but the most affected remain the common folk, so the political and academic elites can pretend it’s all a …
California’s Prison Credit Mess, Explained
Retired Deputy Director of California State Parole Douglas Eckenrod explains the present mess with excessive early release credits being handed out to prisoners in this interview with California Insider on Epoch TV. The credits are presently being challenged in two lawsuits where CJLF is representing the plaintiffs and a third being conducted by the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office on behalf …
Habeas Corpus, Relitigation, and Taking Statutes Seriously
“When Congress supplies a constitutionally valid rule of decision, federal courts must follow it.” You wouldn’t think it would be necessary for the Supreme Court of the United States to say that. Everybody knows that. Don’t they? But the Court did find it necessary to say that yesterday in the case of Brown v. Davenport, No. 20-826. Ervine Davenport was …
Lying For a Good Cause
As the pandemic fades, states with active capital punishment laws are resuming executions of their worst murderers. Over the coming weeks as condemned murderers in Missouri, Arizona and Texas are scheduled for execution, death penalty opponents have resumed their insistence that innocent people are facing execution. The latest “wrongly convicted” posterboy is actually a woman named Melissa Lucio. Lucio was …
The Economic Impact of Drug Use
Many readers will have noticed that, practically everywhere you go, you see “Help Wanted” signs. I’m in my seventies, and at no point have I seen as many as I see now. What’s behind this? One big answer is tanking labor force participation: More and more people of working age are simply opting not to get a job. This is …
Cannabis and Sex Offenses
As more jurisdictions legalize cannabis for medicinal and recreational use, it is worth considering how the ineludible uptick in its use might affect society. For most users, this effect has no bearing on criminal justice issues. But cannabis might have a plausible role in the commission of sex offenses, given its unique effects on sexual drive and practices. My colleague …
The Correct Outcome in Vega v. Tekoh
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard argument in Vega v. Tekoh. That case presents the question whether a plaintiff has a civil remedy against a police officer under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for obtaining a statement in violation of the Constitution, when the statement was later admitted at his trial. In Vega, the statement was obtained from a suspect in …
Soros-Funded Victims’ Groups
As National Crime Victims’ Rights Week kicks off on April 24, three California groups, which support shorter sentences and the early release of criminals, will be holding rallies and events portraying themselves as the voice of victims. The three progressive groups funded by liberal billionaire George Soros—Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, Californians for Safety and Justice, and Prosecutors Alliance …
New study examines the impacts of the pandemic and George Floyd’s death on crime and policing
After the killing of George Floyd in 2020, protests erupted throughout many cities and calls for defunding the police became the new norm. This also occurred at the same time as the pandemic, which police responded to in myriad ways. A new study by researchers at Arizona State University examined the impacts of George Floyd’s death as well as the …