School Calls Cops on 12-Year-Old Boy Who Held Toy Gun During Zoom Class
Isaiah Elliott also received a five-day suspension, but plans to transfer.
Criminal Justice
The FIRST STEP Act Has Reduced Prison Terms for More Than 7,000 People
While that's nothing to sneeze at, it is a modest accomplishment in the context of a federal prison system that keeps more than 150,000 Americans behind bars.
This Labor Day, Police and Teachers Unions Are Making a Bad Year Worse
Americans are being forced to confront the downsides of powerful organized labor in an already miserable year.
Washington Post Journalist Radley Balko on Civil Rights, Militarized Policing, and the Power of Video
The Washington Post's Radley Balko was a pioneer in reporting on the disastrous consequences of police militarization and the need for criminal justice reform. Now everyone else is catching up.
No Punitive Damages in Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against Jeffrey Epstein Estate, Because of Epstein's "Reported Suicide"
Under N.Y. law, "punitive damages shall not be awarded" when the defendant is dead; that's also the general rule throughout the country.
Bust the Police Unions
They're a consistent force of organized resistance to calmer, safer, less aggressive policing.
Abolish Qualified Immunity
This court-invented doctrine shields bad cops from civil liability.
Study Finds More School Arrests In Florida After the State Doubled The Number of Police in Schools
There were four times as many incidents of physical restraint against students the year after Florida doubled the number of police in its schools.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
The Kentucky Derby, phone tapping, and asylum.
D.C. Prosecutions Highlight the Connection Between Gun Control and Racial Disparities
Why do progressives who worry about unequal justice support policies that are bound to make that problem worse?
Cops Use Pictures of Adult Women To Trick Men Into Meeting for Sex, Arrest Them as Child Predators
Many alleged perpetrators, no actual victims.
Police Kill Antifa Protester Who Confessed to Portland Shooting
Plus: D.C. admits to racist gun-law enforcement, Trump mulls more tech bans, Homeland Security wants more biometric data, and more...
Thoughts on Trump's Potential Plan to Cut Federal Grants to "Anarchist Jurisdictions"
For the moment, the executive "memorandum" is long on rhetoric, but short on actual action. If it ever does lead to action, it could be yet another attack on federalism and separation of powers.
Cancelling Justice Jackson?
Will casebooks need to expurgate a passage from the famous Youngstown concurrence?
Daniel Prude's Brother Called 911 Because He Was Behaving Erratically. Prude Ended Up Dead.
Another example of how police can respond poorly to drug and mental health calls
George Mason University President Takes "Immediate Steps … To Advance Systemic and Cultural Anti-Racism" (Updated)
"My vision is nothing short of establishing George Mason University as a national exemplar of anti-racism and inclusive excellence in action."
FOSTA Is Unconstitutional, Argue Sexual Freedom Advocates and First Amendment Lawyers in New Motion
Plus: People have doubts about democracy, Washington state sues Juul, and more...
If You Want to Fix Policing, Listen to the Pragmatists
Reason asked writers who have been on the criminal justice beat for years to lay out serious proposals for reforms with a fighting chance of being implemented.
George Mason University President Announces Anti-Racism Will Be "Important Component" of Reaccreditation
Can Scalia Law School and the Economics Department declare independence from GMU?
A Man Died After Police Held Him on Hot Asphalt for 6 Minutes. He Was Reported for Loitering.
Excessive force is certainly an issue. So is overcriminalization.
California Police Unions Once Again Side With Bad Cops To Kill a Good Bill
Law enforcement lobby holds off bill that would decertify officers who are guilty of misconduct.
California's Inmate Firefighters May Soon Be Allowed To Continue Their Careers After Release
Harsh occupational license rules locked them out, except when they were locked up. A new bill just passed to change the rules.
Trump's Vague Commitment to Criminal Justice Reform
The president's daughter says "we’re just getting started." Some details would be nice.
The Statutory Authority for the Nationwide Eviction Moratorium
The Director of CDC "may take such measures to prevent such spread of the diseases as he/she deems reasonably necessary."
Arizona Supreme Court Strikes Down Sentence Enhancement for "Criminal Street Gang Member[s]"
The statute, which upgraded threatening or intimidating from a misdemeanor to a felony "if the defendant is a criminal street gang member" (regardless of whether the crime is connected to gang membership), the court held, violates substantive due process.
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, Writing Against the "Presumption of Constitutionality"
(Note the citation to, among others, our own Randy Barnett.)
When a Killing Becomes a Rorschach Test: Dispatch From Portland
Different factions in Portland react to a death in the streets.
After the DEA Robbed Her of $43,000 at an Airport, She Joined a Class Action Challenging the Agency's Cash Grabs
The lawsuit argues that the DEA is violating the Fourth Amendment by seizing money from travelers without evidence of criminal activity.
District of Columbia Working Group Finds Prominent Abolitionist, James Birney, Has a "Legacy" That Does Not Merit Recognition.
DCFaces establishes five grounds for cancellation. No one will survive the purges.
The Feds Who Made America's Fentanyl Freakout Worse
Leaked police documents show how U.S. counterterrorism agencies spread myths and panic about fentanyl.
Will Anti-Racist Law Reviews Publish Anti-Anti-Racist Articles by Anti-Anti-Racist Authors?
These policies will institutionalize viewpoint discrimination: only one perspective on a given issue is permissible. In the long run, academic freedom and open discourse will suffer.
Upcoming "Virtual" Speaking Engagements - And I'm Open to Doing More [Reposted]
A list of my upcoming online speaking engagements on various law and public policy issues. I am "open for business" for additional talks, too.
Kentucky Authorities Offered Leniency to Breonna Taylor's Ex if He Would Implicate Her in Drug Crimes
Plus: Biden asks America: "Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?"
Judge Justin Walker on Bar Bureaucracies, Mental Illness, and More
"[One day, t]he Bar Bureaucracy will have to answer for a medieval approach to mental health that is as cruel as it is counterproductive."
