Longer prison sentences do not reduce crime, according to a new study from the Pew Center. The study compares length of prison sentences by state and type of crime from 1990 to 2009. The study also analyzes the relationship between time served and the resulting impact on public safety. This study is completely upside down [...]
Entrapment is a defense that can be used in a criminal case. This type of defense will give the alleged offender a justification for the offending conduct. Entrapment occurs when law enforcement and/or confidential informants give the alleged offender an opportunity to commit criminal conduct. The key to the entrapment defense is that the alleged [...]
Informants. They aid law enforcement and we hear about them all the time and know that they are out there. We hear about them on TV shows, movies, and the news stations report on arrests being made based on an “anonymous” tip. How important are informants and do they hold as much weight as they [...]
There are plenty of ways for young people to get into trouble with the law. Underage drinking, possession of alcohol, drug possession and DUI, coupled with the youthful desire to experiment. Parents need to know that normal adolescent development includes rebellion, experimentation and rejection of parental values. Teens are always trying to become an adult [...]
There’s no question that the Internet and the dominance of social media blur the line between public and private. No matter what is shared online, even when put on “restricted” to acquaintances or a select few viewers via privacy preferences, is just a few mouse clicks away from being in the public sphere. Now that [...]
Debates are firing up everywhere over a new product for drivers that is being promoted on a billboard, on CBS News, MSNBC and all over the internet. The Breathalyzer Equalizer is designed to promote accuracy in Breathalyzer readings, according to the retired state policeman who developed the product. Opponents say that the product is dangerous, [...]
Facebook isn't just for 'friending' anymore. The social network is also being used as a tool to fight crime, according to a recent survey. Four out of five law enforcement officials use social media to assist in criminal investigations, according to an online survey by LexisNexis. The websites used most frequently in police officers’ efforts to level criminal [...]
A basic tenet of the American legal system is that to be justly punished for a crime, a defendant must be found to have actually committed the offense in question (actus reus) and to have had the mental capacity to have committed the act consciously, knowingly, and purposefully (mens rea). The two major principles that [...]
When the Trayvon Martin case became a national story, it attracted a lot of attention to Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" law and implicitly every other state’s laws that determine when you can kill someone legally. Locally, the case raises a question: Under what circumstances can a person kill in self-defense in Hamilton County and avoid [...]
Marijuana use is not a new concept. Humans have been using it forever and about half of the US adult population has tried it. But, it is prohibited under the law. If law enforcement finds it on a person, the pursuit, arrest, charge and conviction will be relentless. It is an illegal drug in Ohio [...]