the crime report

Two seemingly unlikely allies, the conservative Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, today issued a report on federal “overcriminalization,” charging that ”Congress is criminalizing everyday conduct at a reckless pace.” The groups contended that nearly two-thirds of laws enacted by Congress in 2005 and 2006 involving non-violent offenses included inadequate definitions of the conduct they criminalize. (more…)

Senator

Nevada State Senate

Nevada

sloncar@lcb.state.nv.us; mwashington@sen.state.nv.us

Senator

Nevada State Senate

Nevada

astryker@lcb.state.nv.us

Public Defender

Milwaukee county Circuit Court

Wisconsin

chiarkasn@opd.wi.gov

Executive Director, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
Lecturer in Law Columbia Law School
317 Lenox Ave, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10027
rjones@ndsny.org
212-876-5500

(more…)

Mark Pryor is an assistant district attorney in  Travis County,Texas. A former newspaper reporter, he will write for theCrimeReport.org every other Wednesday giving readers a glimpse into the world of a state prosecutor in Texas. Today, he explains to our readers the “anatomy of a trial.”

In substance they (trials) are all different, of course, all fact-dependent, but the basic skeleton is the same: a two-part sytem whereby guilt is assessed in the first phase, in other words where the jurors are faced with the yes/no issue of “Is the defendant guilty of the crime charged?”
(more…)

Below are copies of three chapters on covering criminal justice,  a special report by Criminal Justice Journalists and the John Jay Center on Media, Crime and Justice:

Part One: Covering Prisons and Jails

Part Two: Covering Sentencing

Part Three: Covering Community Corrections, Probation and Beyond

“The Federal Government’s Economic Role in our Constitutional System.”

November 12 through November 14

Mayflower Hotel

Washington, D.C.

http://www.fed-soc.org/

Detroit law enforcers are raising millions of dollars by seizing private property suspected in crimes, but often without charges being filed — and sometimes even when authorities admit no offense was committed, reports the Detroit News. The money raised by confiscating goods in Metro Detroit soared more than 50 percent to at least $20.62 million from 2003 to 2007, according to a News analysis of records from 58 law enforcement agencies. Amounts raised went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands — and, in one case, into the millions. (more…)