Tag Archives: Criminal Defense New York
Civil Rights Enforcement & Education in the Trump Era
The Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos have drawn a significant amount of civil rights concerns, especially when it comes to affirmative action policies, school segregation, and Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in all federally-funded education programs. Many feel that DeVos has effectively all but completely abandoned her civil… Read More »
The “Gay Or Trans Panic Defense” Could Be On The Way Out
It is a little-known fact that, today, anyone charged with assault or murder can argue that their charges should be reduced because they were simply reacting to their victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation in all but three states (California, Illinois, and Rhode Island). This criminal defense is known as the “gay or trans… Read More »
June Marks Major Step For Marijuana Legalization In New York
This week (June 18th), New York took important steps towards legalizing marijuana: The state health commissioner first recommended legalizing the drug. Mayor de Blasio then announced that the city would start handing out tickets to people smoking marijuana instead of arresting them. While the recreational use of marijuana in New York is still technically… Read More »
Neuroscience Gains Increasingly Important Role In Criminal Defense
According to this recent piece featured in Scientific American, neuroscience is playing a larger and larger role in criminal defense cases every day. Specifically, criminal defense strategies are including behavioral tests, brain scans, and psychological evaluations more and more in an effort to mitigate potential punishments for criminal defendants. As scientific methods to measure… Read More »
Indigent Defendants’ Lawsuit Declares Public Defender System Significantly Compromised
A class-action lawsuit that was just allowed to move forward by a judge in Louisiana could have implications for the criminal justice system around the country. The lawsuit was filed by a group of 13 prison inmates who allege that their constitutional right to counsel was denied due to an insufficiently funded public defense… Read More »
Federal Bill to Legalize Marijuana Introduced
On August 1st, Senator Cory Booker introduced legislation—the Marijuana Justice Act—to legalize cannabis at the federal level. The bill removes cannabis from the list of drugs covered by the Controlled Substances Act, automatically expunges marijuana use and possession, incentivizes states to change their own laws if they’ve had a disproportionate effect on low-income, African-American… Read More »
Public Corruption Charges against New Jersey and New York Officials
The case against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey made headlines recently as attorneys asked a federal court to dismiss political corruption charges against him. The Senator’s attorneys argue that a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision—as well as recent decisions—narrow the scope of the federal bribery statute such that he should not be… Read More »
Court Finds Mindset & Intention Irrelevant In Wildlife Crimes
On June 21, a federal court found the Justice Department’s longstanding policy of deciding under what circumstances it would prosecute individuals who killed animals protected under the Endangered Species Act to be outside the range of prosecutorial authority. At issue in the case was a policy known as the “McKittrick Policy,” originally stemming from… Read More »
Prosecution of Teen Could Broaden Concept of Murder
The recent trial of Michelle Carter has garnered a lot of national attention: the teen is on trial for manslaughter after allegedly sending her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to commit suicide. Carter’s boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, took his own life on July 12, 2014. According to media sources, Roy had long battled both… Read More »
How We Define “Criminal”
The New York Times featured an interesting article on May 1 questioning the concept of who is considered to be a criminal, and how the answer to this question often depends upon the political agenda of whoever is in charge in the moment. In sum, the article puts forth the argument that the current… Read More »
