Criminal Justice Roundup

Radley Balko | April 23, 2008

The bad....

• The Supreme Court unanimously rules that evidence seized during arrests that are illegal under state law can still be used at trial.

• The city of Memphis is seizing the automobiles of suspected Johns. Not convicted, just suspected.

• The Ninth Circuit becomes the second federal appeals court to allow federal agents to snoop around in the laptops of people entering the country, even without probable cause that a crime has been committed.

The good...

• Argentina decriminalizes drug consumption. I'm trying to remember the last time the government of Argentina got anything right.

• Alaska appeals court says it will no longer tolerate "implicitly coercive" searches during traffic stops.

• Virginia's Supreme Court tosses out two drug cases in which police conducted searches without probable cause.