It may sound crazy today, but there was once a time when Sheriff Andy would put Otis, the town drunk, into a cell to sleep it off. Then send him on his way. Drinking alcohol may not have been a source of great pride, but it was something regular folks did. And sometimes, they drove after a few beers.  And sometimes, they were stopped by a cop.

It was hardly unusual, back then, when a drunk driver was stopped that a police officer would take the driver home to sleep it off. That was before MADD and SADD made drunk driving so BADD that it was tantamount to murder. This isn’t to suggest that drunk driving is no big deal, or should have been treated so lightly, but that it didn’t carry the stigma of venality that it does today.

These were otherwise ordinary people who just had one (or ten) too many. Sober, they were law abiding, productive members of society, with families and mortgages, jobs and lawns to mow. They were us. Just too drunk to drive.

Those days are long gone, and perhaps rightly so, although the vilification of drunk drivers emphasizes only the harm they could potentially cause, while ignoring the fact that pretty much anybody could turn from good neighbor to public enemy in an evening without any intention of harming anyone. Continue reading →

UCLA law prof Stephen Bainbridge revealed an internal email sent by the school’s chancellor to all faculty.  The email alerted faculty that they were, under new policy, “responsible employees” to report sexual harassment and sexual violence.  Or to be less officious, profs were now the campus snitches.  Bainbridge was not pleased with his new duty.

The new policy strikes me as problematic in several ways. First, I resent being drafted into the Title IX cops, especially given the very legitimate critiques of university policies in this area. Suppose I think that UCLA’s definition of sexual harassment is too broad (as many are) or I think UCLA’s policy for handling complaints in this area lacks due process (as many do). Requiring me to become an informer despite those concerns strikes me as a serious abuse of academic and personal freedom.

Are academics adorable or what?  Fighting losing battles as they’re conscripted into an ideology army that has already consumed higher education. Is the war really lost? Can the Title IX genie be put back in the bottle.  Well, perhaps, but then there’s this*. Continue reading →

One of the more problematic mechanisms of argumentation is the laundry list, the lengthy list proffered in support of a position by its advocate in an effort to demonstrate two related points: first, that the target of the argument is nothing new, and second, that there is a wealth of support for the line of reasoning, if not the particular application, of the argument.

What makes this method a problem is that the advocate, tendering the laundry list, has had ample opportunity to put it together, while the person arguing against it is often left with little to no time to parse the list, separate the individual items on the list, research the specifics of the list and test whether it’s in fact correct and that the rationale for each item on the list is, as claimed, relevant to the argument then being made.

It’s also a problem that a list has surface appeal, so the absence of being able to individually address each item on the list leaves the decision-maker with the superficial sense that the list has some merit.

Beware the laundry list. Its use as a rhetorical device invariably conceals its failure of support. If there was direct logical support for the proposition for which it’s being offered, the advocate wouldn’t need to throw everything against the wall, but would focus on the specific argument that conclusively demonstrates the propriety of the position.  Continue reading →

Harvard Law School has decided to rid itself of its crest, because it’s “based on the coat of arms of Isaac Royall, Jr., a New England slaveowner whose will endowed Harvard’s first law chair.”  The forces of tradition have made the reasoned decision not to fight. It’s a friggin’ crest. It’s just not worth the effort to oppose it, and so (subject to approval by the ignominious “corporation”) the eradication of the slaveowning Royalls from HLS has prevailed.

The controversy has become the most serious conversation about race and wheat since a black man creamed it. This morning, it looks like the forces of change got their way.

Not even Elie Mystal misses the empty symbolism here, but if it makes the children happy, good on them.

But while Princeton ponders the value of ridding its campus of the harsh sound of the 28th president’s name, Stanford is busy trying to figure out the new rules of social justice naming. Continue reading →

Mario’s boy, Andy Cuomo, has taken to the airwaves to rally the support of the public to his initiative to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.  The argument in support is pretty straightforward: people need to eat.  And human experience suggests that Andy may be right about that.

And never one to pass on the opportunity to promote a populist cause that sails over the heads of its beneficiaries, the New York Times chimes in with its support. This is neither new nor surprising, as it previously offered an editorial in favor of a federal $15 minimum wage. This time, it’s the New York state of mind:

The lowest-wage workers in New York could soon get a much-needed raise — if the stingy Republicans who control the State Senate don’t block it.

What? You didn’t think they would pass up the chance to call Republicans stingy? Continue reading →

In the scheme of people denied right to effective assistance of counsel, they tend to fall through cracks. We give enormous attention to the poor, who are denied competent counsel at trial, only to spend millions to fight their pending execution after it’s too late. Sure, death is different. But life ain’t so great either when you’re a kid in court by yourself.

Toddlers. Three to four-year-olds who are subject to deportation proceedings. But it’s happening.

Although a network of pro bono organizations and a Justice Department program try to help children find attorneys — some paid for by the government — many children are forced to fend for themselves. According to Justice Department figures, 42 percent of the more than 20,000 unaccompanied children involved in deportation proceedings completed between July 2014 and late December had no attorney. It is unclear how often children 5 or under are forced to defend themselves, but attorneys and advocates for immigrants said it does happen.

Continue reading →

In creating Fault Lines, an editorial decision was made. It would reflect all legitimate perspectives of the criminal justice system, from defense, public defender, police, judicial and prosecution.  There would be conflicts, sometimes deep and irreconcilable, because that’s how the system is. And that was okay.

FL was fortunate to have Murray Newman willing to stand up and speak on behalf of the prosecutors’ perspective. He was a long time prosecutor, and left his office not because he wanted to end his prosecutorial career, but in a regime change.  Murray has spoken thoughtfully for the prosecution.

Then Andrew King agreed to write for Fault Lines.  More importantly, Andrew’s office was on board with the idea. There were other active prosecutors who wanted to write for Fault Lines, but their offices refused to allow it for fear something they wrote would come back to bite them in the butt. Understandable, but unhelpful.  When Andrew’s office agreed, it was pretty huge.

Since then, Andrew has done an exemplary job of representing the prosecution’s perspective.  Not only is his writing superb, but he’s shown no shyness whatsoever in telling his side’s view of the world. Think Bill Otis, but not an antagonistic self-serving asshole. That’s exactly what we hoped he would do, and he has exceeded all expectations. Continue reading →

The problem began with a drunken fight, a shot fired.  Guns and booze are never a really good mix.

Earlier in the evening, Choate and Musto were drinking at their favorite bar about a mile away and began fighting.

“They had gotten buzzed and [Musto] probably said something stupid because he’s a cocky dude,” Weddington said. “She pulled his card and left the restaurant.”

Back home, they fought some more until their fireworks escalated to a gunshot.

Deanne Choate was a 53-year-old mother, who looked pretty good on a motorcycle back then. Continue reading →

It was April 19. 1989. And it began a rash of shrieking about the “child predator” plague that was about to destroy civilization as we know it.  A new word was invented, “wilding,” and new laws were enacted, punishments enhanced, and parents kept their children locked up tight so they wouldn’t be raped and sodomized. Or rape and sodomize, according to what fear was highest on their radar.

And it was, as we learned in 2002, a lie.  All of it. Total, unadulterated bullshit.

So let’s do it again.  This time, it was five young black men in Brownsville.  The story broke about how they raped an 18-year-old woman at gunpoint at Osborne Playground. Fires were stoked. Cries were heard to burn them at the stake.  Except this time, the investigation revealed that the evidence showed the “victim” to be incredible, her father to be a disgusting animal and the allegations to be false.

Thompson spoke to the press about his difficult decision to drop a case with such heinous allegations. Continue reading →

The virtue of academic freedom, that professors should be allowed to teach, study and express ideas without regard to their political acceptability, shouldn’t be particularly controversial.  One would hope that there would be organic limits, based upon the intelligence of academics, so that profs wouldn’t teach their students that the earth is flat or two plus two equals eleven. But hey, freedom is freedom, right?

Not anymore. Even in the effort to comport with this week’s notion of political correctness, there is danger afoot.

Andrea Quenette, an assistant communications professor, was chased out of her own classroom—not because she was a bad teacher, but because her students said she wasn’t agreeing with them quickly enough.

If the movement to eradicate the word “master” from campuses, despite its having no connection to slavery whatsoever, but because the mere sounds of the word caused students to ball up in a corner and cry, then Quenette’s offense will make your head explode. Continue reading →