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It is Time for a “Second Look” at Legislative Efforts to Combat Mass Incarceration & Recidivism
FEATURED
May 19, 2025
It is Time for a “Second Look” at Legislative Efforts to Combat Mass Incarceration & Recidivism
By: Sara Dalsheim
Government efficiency and spending is a hot topic of controversy in the United States. But even in the context of heated “DOGE” fights, there are proven examples of government efficiency and reduced spending that are clearly working—the passing of measures like the Second Chance and First Step Acts in an effort for mass incarceration and recidivism reduction. The U.S. government spends a total of $80.7 billion on public prisons and jails, and $3.9 billion on private prisons and jails.[1] The government (federal and state) can reduce their spending on incarceration and correctional facilities if efforts are made to remedy the mass incarceration crisis and to combat recidivism. A decline in recidivism saves the government money, makes society safer, and allows…
A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
April 15, 2025
A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
By: James Trusty
The Attorney General’s recent announcement that DOJ will seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione raises a host of interesting legal and philosophical issues, and it almost certainly reflects a dramatic about-face from the Biden administration’s approach towards federal prosecutions for death-eligible offenses. Aside from having personally prosecuted three death penalty trials while I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland and when I was…
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
April 14, 2025
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
By: Abbey Block
Last Sunday, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the season finale of White Lotus – a widely popular show that centers around the week-long vacation of several ultra-wealthy patrons of the fictional “White Lotus” resort in Thailand.[1] The show follows a dynamic cast of quirky characters as they navigate their opulent getaway. One of those characters in this most recent season was Timothy Ratliff…
Amicus Briefs Urge Reduction in Rubashkin Fraud Sentence
January 25, 2011
Amicus Briefs Urge Reduction in Rubashkin Fraud Sentence
By: Ifrah Law
We first posted about Sholom Rubashkin—the former plant manager at the now-defunct Agriprocessors, Inc. — back in May 2010, when Rubashkin was awaiting sentence for more than 80 counts of fraud in connection with his operation of the kosher slaughterhouse. Since then, Chief U.S. District Judge Linda Reade of the Northern District of Iowa sentenced Rubashkin to 27 years in prison, an action that sparked…
California Court OKs Warrantless Search of Cell Phone
January 19, 2011
California Court OKs Warrantless Search of Cell Phone
By: Ifrah Law
The text messages in a defendant’s cell phone are in no way different, for the purposes of a police search after an arrest, from the defendant’s clothing or a cigarette package. That was the holding of the California Supreme Court on January 3, 2011, in People v. Diaz, a case in which the state’s highest court approved the police’s warrantless search of the text message…
Why Is an Assault on Congress Member a Federal Crime?
January 12, 2011
Why Is an Assault on Congress Member a Federal Crime?
By: Ifrah Law
The charges against Jared Loughner for shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords put into sharp focus a little-known federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 351. This law provides for a death penalty for killing a member of Congress, a presidential or vice presidential candidate, or a Supreme Court justice, as well as imprisonment up to life for attempting to kill such a person. Loughner is charged under this statute…
A Tragic Result of the Stevens Case
January 3, 2011
A Tragic Result of the Stevens Case
By: Ifrah Law
We have discussed the fallout from the Ted Stevens prosecution several times in this blog. See this post, this post, and this post. The Jan. 3, 2011, issue of the New Yorker magazine has a fascinating article about another, very sad result of that case – the September 26, 2010, suicide of Nicholas Marsh, a Department of Justice attorney who was part of the prosecution…
Judges Push Back Against Prosecutorial Abuses
December 23, 2010
Judges Push Back Against Prosecutorial Abuses
By: Ifrah Law
Prosecutorial overreaching is still occurring in courts across the nation, but judges are beginning to push back. In the Ted Stevens case, the former senator was prosecuted on charges that he failed to properly report gifts from a lobbyist—only for the government to later drop all charges against him, saying that his jury conviction should be dismissed because government prosecutors and investigators improperly withheld evidence…
