Crime and Punishment

There's no way this could possibly go wrong: The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex, and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them. Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique, which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server, to … [Read more...] about Click Here For an FBI Raid

As is often the case, a lot of women are getting hurt by the Spitzer scandal. My wife feels particularly bad for Spitzer's wife Silda. Aside from cheating on her, Eliot Spitzer also seems to be dragging her to all his humiliating press conferences. As Maggie Gallagher puts it: No animal would plan for its mate as exquisite a humiliation as Eliot Spitzer inflicted on his wife, … [Read more...] about Spitzer’s Women

There have been some rumors that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is trying to bargain with the feds over his involvement with a prostitution ring. Apparently, he's offering to resign the governorship in return for a walk on the charges. This is wrong for two reasons: First, it's not much of a punishment. Thousands of men arrested as prostitution patrons and money launderers are … [Read more...] about Resigning Is Not Enough and Way Too Much For Spitzer

I'm still riding high on the Elliot Spitzer hooker scandal. What a tool. Note that I didn't call it a sex scandal. That the governor of New York was having sex with these women is not the problem. (Mrs. Spitzer might have a different opinion.) No, the problem is that he was hiring hookers. To be more specific, he was hiring them in violation of the law. He even owed them money. … [Read more...] about The Hookers Aren’t the Real Problem With Spitzer

Scott at Simple Justice is always a source of fascinating issues, and recently he wrote about the Pew report on incarceration: The Pew report has been the subject of intense interest around the blawgosphere.  This is the report that tells us that we finally reached a 1 in 100 incarceration rate (and far higher for minorities) and the cost is blowing the … [Read more...] about Costs and Benefits of Being #1 at Incarceration