As the New York Times explains, “President Obama did something Friday that he hardly ever does — and no other president could ever have done.”

He addressed the racial fault lines in the country by laying bare his personal anguish and experience in an effort to help white Americans understand why African-Americans reacted with frustration and anger to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Many have responded to the President’s heartfelt, Continue reading →

Matt Brown, the Tempe Kid, has an incredible knack of seeing the obvious that more experienced lawyers no longer do.  It’s not just that Matt brings us back to the days when it was all new and shiny, but that he reminds us of systemic wrongs that we’ve grown inured to. It’s important that we never forget these things.

Much as we may hate it, the fact is that a plea bargain is at the core of saving a great many defendants from the fate that pandering politicians, Continue reading →

This could have been another Readers Mailbag, marketeering version, based on two particular emails that arrived this week, but rather than posting the usual snarky response, a little more directed parsing might prove more useful.

Dear webmaster,

I’m writing today to ask that you remove any and all links leading to CriminalJusticeDegreesGuide.com from your site, Continue reading →

Who doesn’t love forensic science, making every case easy-peasy because, well, science says so. No burden of having to think hard (and get the accompanying headache), understand what’s being alleged and critically parsing it for efficacy and accuracy. No way, baby. When an agent takes the stand and says the defendant is GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, because science says so, everybody can pat themselves on the back for a job well done and walk away without the slightest hint of doubt.

Science. Cool, right?

Except when Continue reading →

The New York Times Room for Debate poses yet another interesting issue raised by the dubious fascination with the Zimmerman trial:

Does televising important trials let people better understand the case, and the criminal justice system, or does that attention turn the justice system into a circus?

Think the answer is obvious? Not to the chosen experts.  Larry Posner, identified merely as a trial lawyer, offers his two cents:

Watch a televised trial not because it is an excellent tutorial on our justice system, but because it is a tolerable – and even entertaining – method of learning Continue reading →

Before Jim Bouton wrote Ball Four, he was a major league pitcher. He wrote about “inside baseball” because he had been inside baseball. He had the goods.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell tried to do the same thing with criminal defense lawyers. But he was never a major league pitcher.  He’s been ripped to shreds already for some of the ignorance he’s spread, in excruciating detail, so no need to go over that turf again. Continue reading →

Mandi Wright, a photographer for the Detroit Free Press, learned a bit of a lesson about what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a cop, as she recorded a person being arrested and placed into a police cruiser.

This requires a bit of a breakdown, Continue reading →

Well, it’s here. Welcome to the new and improved SJ.  A lot of people helped me along the way, and the first thing I need to do is thank them.  TJIC and FritzMuffKnuckle were with me at the beginning of this move, and steered me into this when I was at the point of throwing up my hands with GoDaddy and chucking it all.

Due to some unforeseen twists and turns in the middle, Continue reading →

The  House Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing today on FISA, the NSA and some guy named Snowden. Few people are aware of this, as their time and attention are consumed by more important legal concerns, as regularly voice by legal entertainer,  Nancy Grace.  But it will happen nonetheless.

Stewart Baker, who harbors some  peculiar notions when it comes to the things the government does to keep us safe, will be testifying, Continue reading →

It’s far easier to wrap your head around torture when it involves the infliction of active pain. That doesn’t make passive pain, the infliction of often unbearable psychological punishment, any less torturous. And it happens regularly, and many times arbitrarily, as explained in an op-ed by Wilbert Rideau, who served 44 years for manslaughter in Louisiana. Continue reading →