Criminal Sentencing Overhaul has Bipartisan Support- But a Long Way to Go
In the 1980s and 1990s, federal lawmakers passed a number of tough-on-crime measures to address growing concerns about the crack epidemic and high crime rates. Now, decades later, the outcome of the crime laws has become apparent: mass incarceration, unfair outcomes, and penalties that do not fit the crime. The federal government realizes that something […]
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NY Law and Bomb Threats
This September, a story went viral in which a teen brought a clock he had invented to his high school so he could show his teachers. The clock was in a pencil case, and his English teacher thought that the clock appeared to be a bomb. CNN reports that the police were called and that […]
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Federal Wire Fraud Crimes– 18 USC 1343
Three Notorious (Recent) Cases of Wire Fraud Wire fraud is the act of fraud used in electronic communication. That’s simple. Easy to understand. The American Supreme Court mucked things up — for the laymen — when they “several times observed the wire fraud statute has a long arm.,” Pasquantino v. United States. Despite the Court’s […]
READ MORECops, free speech and Occupy Wall Street: A cautionary tale
Q: “What sort of training did you receive concerning the First Amendment?” A: “That was probably back in the academy. I don’t remember.” Q.: “What does the First Amendment mean in your police work?” A.: “I don’t — I don’t know.” Q: “And do you recall what training at the academy you received that concerned […]
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Justice Department to Take a Tougher Stance on White Collar Crime
Employees of investment firms and professionals throughout New York City need to take note of a new possible threat: the Justice Department has announced new policies prioritizing the prosecution of employees for corporate wrongdoing. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is taking action to become more aggressive in prosecuting individual employees after years of criticism that […]
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Fort Lauderdale Attorney Scott Rothstein Pleads Not Guilty to Information Alleging $1.2 Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme
In response to allegations uncomfortably similar to those against former New York celebrity lawyer and arch Ponzi-schemer Marc Dreier, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein, head of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, P.A., appeared in response to a criminal information in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday. The information charges Rothstein […]
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FDA Proposes Guideline on Access to Experimental Drugs
The AP reports today that the FDA has released proposed guidelines that would allow “greater numbers of seriously ill patients [to] get experimental medicines [and] allow drug companies to charge for the medicines.” Interestingly, however, the for Better Access to Developmental Drugs is characterizing the proposed guidelines as little more than a “smokescreen.” “They’ve taken an […]
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An Abigail Alliance Interview
The Abigail Alliance For Better Access to Developmental Drugs recently lost the en banc rehearing of its argument in the DC Circuit, but this interesting case might well end up ultimately being decided by the Supreme Court. The following is a transcript of a short conversation I had with Scott Ballenger, the attorney who worked on […]
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Boston Globe on Medical Self Defense and the Abigail Alliance
The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the movement to assert the right of “” and on the Abigail Alliance’s case still-pending before the en banc DC Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s a complicated issue in part because of the difficulty of drawing the limits on the assertion of such a right. As author […]
READ MOREConcealed Carry Weapon Permits Saves Two Lives in Detroit
It was a quiet morning along Warren Street as a 50-year-old resident pulled his black & silver Toyota into a parking spot at Detroit’s Citizen Bank. Double checking the deposit envelope, he was distracted and didn’t notice two teenagers watching him from the opposite side of the street in the parking lot of the Detroit […]
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