Crime and Punishment

I just spotted the headline in Yahoo news: Reputed Mob Boss Captured in Chicago A mobster, in Chicago? Say it ain't so! Why would a mobster in Chicago be big news? Unless... They did write "Mob Boss"... Could it be...? Holy Crap! They caught Joey "The Clown" Lombardo! Lombardo has had kind of a strange reputation for years. Apparently, he was not a very flashy guy by … [Read more...] about Clown Captured in Chicago

Earlier this week I blogged about the retesting of DNA evidence in the murder of Wanda McCoy. Roger Keith Coleman was executed for the crime 13 years ago, but various people have been insisting he was innocent and asking for the evidence to be re-tested. Now it has, and the results were about what I predicted: The DNA matched with 19-million-to-one odds against an accidental … [Read more...] about Finding Truth

Roger Keith Coleman was executed 13 years ago in Virginia for the murder of Wanda McCoy. Death penalty opponents have for years insisted that he was probably innocent, and they have recently been trying to have DNA tests conducted that might prove his innocence. They've had no luck, however, because there's no legal justification for such tests to be performed: Coleman is dead, … [Read more...] about Seeking Truth

How come criminalizing driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%—as measured by a machine that estimates blood alcohol by measuring alcohol in a person's breath, which it does by measuring chemical reactions in its sensor that are caused by alcohol-like compounds—is considered the law, but the constitutional presumption of innocence is considered a technicality? … [Read more...] about Trimming The Elements

Mike has an Overcriminalization Watch posting at Crime & Federalism listing a few minor ethical lapses that could (at least in theory) be charged as federal crimes under the mail and wire fraud laws. For example, this: using your cell phone (or sending an e-mail) to call in sick for work when you're not really sick (it doesn't matter that everyone else does this; you're … [Read more...] about Overcriminalization Watch