The money bail system that has been so pervasive throughout our judicial system is beginning to see reform around the nation. The money bail system, which is the current system in most states, ensures that defendants can only be released from jail if they pay money as collateral in the event they do not show up to court. Bail reform advocates believe a core issue with the current system is that it will often keep harmless people in jail because they cannot afford bail, while

As of July 1, 2016, there are 2,905 Americans on death row. Almost one-third of those inmates live in one of these three states: California, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, which featured ballot referendums concerning capital punishment in this past election held November 8, 2016. Approximately 66% of Oklahomans voted to enshrine capital punishment in the Oklahoma Constitution. Meanwhile, 61% of Nebraskans voted to reinstate capital punishment after previously abolishing it in 2015.

The trial of Dylann Roof, the young man that fatally shot nine individuals attending a Bible study meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015, is gradually moving forward. Roof faces thirty-three federal charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, including: nine counts of violating the Hate Crime Act resulting in death; three counts of violating the Hate Crime Act involving an attempt to kill; nine counts of obstruction of e

In 2008, North Carolina passed N.C.G.S.A. § 14-202.5, a statute placing a ban on registered sex offenders from accessing social media websites that allow access to anyone under the age of eighteen. The statute is intended to protect minors from contact with sex offenders on the Internet and makes a violation of the statute a Class I felony. The North Carolina statute places a ban on the majority of popular social media websites we all use every day including Facebook, Twitter

Duane Buck was sentenced to death by a jury in 1997 after his own counsel called an expert witness who testified that Mr. Buck would be a future danger to society because he was African American. A finding of future dangerousness is required under Texas law in order to impose a death sentence. Mr. Buck’s brief filed with the Supreme Court asserted that allowing Mr. Buck’s conviction to stand will create the risk of injustice in other cases, and undermine the criminal justice

On October 24, 2016, Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer SA settled with U.S. authorities to deferred prosecution based on an investigation into bribes paid to foreign officials. Embraer has agreed to pay $107 million to the Justice Department and another $98 million to the SEC. Based on the bribes paid, Embraer earned nearly $84 million in profits. Embraer did not voluntary report its violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), but did comply with authorities allow

Duane Buck was sentenced to death by a jury in 1997 after his own counsel called an expert witness who testified that Mr. Buck would be a future danger to society because he was African American. A finding of future dangerousness is required under Texas law in order to impose a death sentence. Mr. Buck’s brief filed with the Supreme Court asserted that allowing Mr. Buck’s conviction to stand will create the risk of injustice in other cases, and undermine the criminal justic

In the Supreme Court’s June 2016 decision in Birchfield v. North Dakota, the Court held that police officers do not need a warrant to issue a driver suspected of driving under the influence a breath test as a search incident to arrest. Birchfield involved multiple petitioners arguing that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated as result of their states’ implied consent laws. Under North Dakota law, a police officer who pulls over a motorist for suspicion of driving unde